News tagged with 'Pharmaceuticals'

Georgetown University discussed the potential for a conflict-of-interest between doctors and pharmaceutical companies that partially fund continuing-education for doctors.

After the Vioxx scandal, Congress approved a new law that forces the FDA to reveal post-approval safety information on new drugs and vaccines. Information on the first 26 drugs were posted this week.

AstraZeneca is fined $520 million for illegally marketing the anti-psychotic drug, Seroquel for uses not approved by the FDA, including for use among the elderly and adolescents.

Only one in five medication administrations was completely error-free finds this published Australian study. The culprit- interrutions.

Avastin is poised to become the number one best selling drug in 2014 thanks, in part, to patents expiring on Lipitor and Plavix.

Yaz and Yasmin oral contraceptives are generating so many lawsuits that the state of New Jersey is considering consolidating them into a class action.

Aside from rhetoric and divisiveness, NPR is tackling the entire health care debate by looking at how Americans contribute to their own rising health care costs. In this story, direct-to-consumer advertising is shown to have a huge impact on our prescription spending, the third most expensive cost in the U.S. system.

40 people have been made sick by propofol, the same sedative reported to have been found in Michael Jackson's home. 57,000 vials have been recalled after a bacterial contamination was found. Although the number on the lot in Jackson's home reportedly did not match the recalled lot numbers, a contaminated sedative could cause serious problems. 

A new study published in the journal Cell Metabolism finds an experimental drug, by GlaxoSmithKline, that imitates a health-boosting compound found in red wine may offer promise in the fight against diabetes and obesity, according to researchers.

A new class of diabetes drugs has shown promising results in a clinical trial conducted to help bring it to market. If approved, liraglutide would be the second GLP-1 diabetes medicine approved by the FDA for sale in the U.S. Byetta was the first.

The FDA has approved the vaccine Gardasil, manufactured by Merck Pharmaceuticals, for the prevention of vaginal and vulva cancer caused by strains 16 and 18 of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). These two types of HPV account for 70 percent of cervical cancers and are known to also cause some vaginal and vulvar cancers.

Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals now say there have been four deaths associated with their drug for type-2 diabetes, Byetta.  Amylin shares plunged by 24 percent at midday after executives disclosed Tuesday night the additional deaths "in the interest of transparency."

People taking the type 2 diabetes drug, Byetta received an FDA warning Monday after it was reported that two people taking the drug died and four others were recovering from pancreatitis. People on the drug with any pancreas problems should stop taking it.