After investigation, experts have noted a link between certain birth defects and ingestion of the antidepressant Zoloft during pregnancy. Zoloft, one of a group of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), is often prescribed for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and various anxiety and panic disorders. One of the primary classes of defects experts have [...]
Continue reading...20. June 2011
In a lawsuit against the makers of the drug Zoloft, experts are citing links between ingestion of the drug and birth defects involving the heart. Among other conditions, infants whose mothers took Zoloft while pregnant show a higher risk of giving birth to children with tetralogy of fallot. Tetralogy of fallot is a combination of [...]
Continue reading...20. June 2011
The Food and Drug Administration has added a warning for smokers who use the drug Chantix to help them quit. The FDA said Thursday that Chantix, manufactured by Pfizer Inc., increases the chances that users with cardiovascular disease will suffer heart attacks. The FDA cited a trial of 700 smokers, some of whom were given [...]
Continue reading...4. March 2011
Topamax epilepsy drug also used to help prevent migraines can increase the risk for oral birth defects in babies born to women taking the medication. According to FDA, new data shows expecting mothers taking the Topamax drug, sold generically and as brand name Johnson & Johnson’s Topamax, are about 20 times more likely to have [...]
Continue reading...10. February 2011
An estimated 10 million patients have used the pain reliever propoxyphene and were sent scrambling to doctors’ offices when it was recently pulled from the market. Many physicians are still dealing with the aftermath of the product, first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1957. “Propoxyphene is the worst drug in [...]
Continue reading...19. November 2010
The pharmaceutical company that makes the prescription pain medications Darvon and Darvocet has agreed to withdraw the drugs from the U.S. market at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the FDA said Friday. The FDA says the drug, propoxyphene, puts patients at risk of potentially serious or fatal heart rhythm abnormalities. Since [...]
Continue reading...23. September 2010
The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that access to the diabetes drug Avandia will be restricted to patients with Type 2 diabetes whose condition cannot be controlled with other medications. Also Thursday, the European Medicines Agency recommended that Avandia be taken off the market. The EMA is Europe’s counterpart to the U.S. Food and [...]
Continue reading...11. September 2010
Federal health regulators are warning doctors that a class of injectable drugs used in MRI medical imaging scans can cause a rare and sometimes fatal condition in patients with kidney disease. The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it is adding its strongest warning label to imaging agents that contain the chemical gadolinium, highlighting the [...]
Continue reading...5. September 2010
People who take bisphosphonates, or bone-strengthening drugs for osteoporosis, may have a slightly higher risk of developing esophageal cancer, especially if they take them for several years, a study out this week in the British Journal of Medicine finds. Researchers tracked almost 3,000 people with cancer of the esophagus or throat for eight years and compared [...]
Continue reading...10. July 2010
Two new studies suggest Avandia may cause serious heart problems. FDA will reveal on Friday the data it is reviewing ahead of an advisory panel meeting about the safety of the popular diabetes drug. The meeting, scheduled for July 13 and 14, comes on the heels of two new studies suggesting that Avandia may cause [...]
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24. June 2011
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