News tagged with 'Arthritis Drugs'

Glucosamine and chrondroitin offer many sufferers of osteoarthritis relief from pain. But research from the National Institutes of Health, Alternative Medicine division find that the natural supplements have mixed results, largely disappointing.  Some of the researchers take fees from pharmaceutical giants, the research discloses.  

Wanting to move on from the legacy of its deadly painkiller, the maker of Vioxx,  Merck & Co. this morning signed an agreement to pay $4.85 billion to settle the outstanding individual product liability claims against the drug. "This is

New Jersey Court Delivers Merck Legal Victory A New Jersey appeals panel has handed Merck & Co. a victory in the mass litigation over its painkiller Vioxx by barring 98 English and Welsh users of the drug from suing in the state's courts. The Vioxx plaintiffs wanted to take advantage

An editorial published in the December 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that Vioxx maker Merck & Co. intentionally withheld documents showing that additional heart attacks were suffered during a clinical study of the recalled arthritis drug. According to the latest report, which was publish

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today acknowledged the voluntary withdrawal from the market of Vioxx (chemical name rofecoxib), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) manufactured by Merck & Co. FDA today also issued a Public Health Advisory to inform patients of this action and to advise them to consu

Pharmaceutical maker Aventis announced Tuesday that several users of its arthritis medication Arava have died in Japan. According to reports, 16 people taking Arava developed interstitial pneumonia, five of whom subsequently died. Aventis is advising physicians to stop prescribing the medication to patients suffering

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) met with a panel of safety regulators Tuesday to discuss three rheumatoid arthritis medications and their link to lymphoma. In December 2002, the FDA and the National Cancer Institute in Maryland revealed that, since 1999, they had received dozens of reports of lymphoma fo

Two large clinical trials analyzing the effects of the arthritis medication Enbrel in the treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF) were recently halted in Europe due to the possibility that the drug may worsen a patient's condition. Physicians in the United Kingdom are now being advised to "use caution" when prescr

A new Swiss study on the effects of COX-2 inhibitors reveals the medications may play a major role in the prevention of heart disease. As part of a 14-person study at the University of Zurich, researchers distributed Celebrex, a COX-2 inhibitor used to treat arthritis, to patients taking cardiovascular disease prevent

A new study on the safety of two arthritis drugs, Remicade (infliximab) and Enbrel (etanercept), indicates the medications may be associated with the development of lymphoma. The study, conducted by researchers with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Cancer Institute in Maryland, identified 2

A new report published in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that users of the arthritis medication Celebrex are not as protected from bleeding ulcers as once believed. According to the report, at the conclusion of a recent six-month study, which analyzed data from 287 patients who had a p

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing two television commercials for Merck & Co. Inc.'s arthritis medication Vioxx due to the advertisements' failure to mention the drawbacks of the drug. In the first ad, Vioxx's name is mentioned but not its indication. The second mentions Vioxx's indication but n

A report in the October 5th issue of The Lancet summarizes a recent study linking high doses of the arthritis medication Vioxx (rofecoxib) to the development of coronary heart disease (CHD). As part of their research, physicians from Vanderbilt University analyzed data from 375,000 patients enrolled in the Tennessee M

A new report presented by researchers from the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor suggests cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors may cause acute urinary retention. According to several physicians at the facility, three elderly patients developed urinary retention after taking Vioxx and Celebrex for muscl

In a press release today, Immunex Corporation revealed that a new study shows the controversial rheumatoid arthritis medication Enbrel is safe and effective. According to the drug maker, of 629 patients using Enbrel for five years, 70 percent responded successfully to the drug. Enbrel also seemed to be well tolerated