News tagged with 'Painkiller'

In Colorado and 15 other states, drugs now kill more people than auto accidents as powerful painkillers, both legal and illegal, are becoming more commonplace.

OxyContin may be reformulated making it more difficult for addicts to dissolve the painkiller in water and inject it for a heroin-like effect. FDA advisors will consider the application Thursday.

Court documents released Monday help tell the story of a cocktail of drugs and half dozen doctors attending to Michael Jackson to help him fight insomnia. Propofol and a dozen other drugs led to his death, and Jackson becomes one of more than 20,000 deaths a year due to prescription drugs.

Pitchman Billy Mays had cocaine in his system, an autopsy finds, which contributed to the development of heart disease. He also had prescription amounts of painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs.

An FDA advisory panel urged a ban of popular prescription painkillers Vicodin and Percocet, both which contain acetaminophen, Tuesday. The panel also recommended lowering the maximum dose of over-the-counter painkillers containing acetaminophen, such as Tylenol and Excedrin.

Michael Jackson reportedly wanted the sedative, Diprivan so he could sleep, his personal nurse reports. He told her he was experiencing both hot and cold sides of his body days before his death, the same symptoms that sparked an FDA ALERT concerning Diprivan two years ago, IB News finds in this exclusive report. 

The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for investor fraud lawsuits to continue against Merck over painkiller, Vioxx.   Merck had argued that the statute of limitations expired. The high court will have to determine when you actually start the clock on the two-year statute of limitations. 

Promotion for the painkiller, Vioxx, took the form of entire phony medical journals, court documents reveal in the Australian class-action lawsuit underway.

The FDA is stepping up efforts to reduce the misuse of 24 powerful painkillers, which cause hundreds of deaths each year. Letters have been sent to 16 drug companies that collectively manufacture opioid drugs that are subject to review.

An FDA expert panel says ban Darvon because it's not effective and has overdose and suicide risks. 

This report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, indicates that half of high school seniors will have tried a prescription drug for recreational use before they graduate high school. While marijuana and alcohol use has declined, the painkillers Vicodin and OxyContin use has increased among primarily white, middle-class teens.  

New research in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirms the growing dangers posed by the abuse of prescription painkillers and calls on clinicians to help prevent future cases of addiction and overdose.

Jury Awards 5.5M in Duragesic Patch Lawsuit Updated June 2007- A jury award of $5.5 million was entered in federal court in West Palm to the father of a man who died while wearing a Duragesic patch . The patch, made by a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, distributes time-released dos

Scientists at the Medicines Monitoring Unit of Britain's Medical Research Council report in this week's issue of the medical journal The Lancet that heart patients who take both aspirin and ibuprofen may increase their risk of death due to ibuprofen's tendency to block the blood-thinning abilities of aspirin. A

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked pharmaceutical maker Purdue Pharma LP to pull all OxyContin advertisements printed in a widely read journal because they fail to properly warn readers of the medication's adverse side effects. The ads, which the FDA says "grossly misrepresent" the safety of OxyContin,