FDA & Prescription Drugs

• Blood Sugar Test Strips Recalled

  Shannon Weidemann | December 28, 2007 7:39 PM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  Test strips used by diabetics to test their blood sugar levels have been recalled after it was discovered they were giving false readings. The recalled test strips were manufactured by Bayer and are used with the Contour TS blood glucose meter. The test strips in question are sold predominately through mail order to be used only with the Contour TS meter. The recall covers seven countries --...

• Drug Safety Becoming A Problem: Death From Drugs Increases

  Jenny Albano | September 12, 2007 12:31 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  Deaths and serious injuries from popular drugs has almost tripled from 1998 to 2005, an analysis of U.S. drug data found. Deaths and injuries from medications increased from 34,966 to 89,842 during the study of reports to the FDA. They analyzed excerpts of reports on serious side effects received by the FDA between January 1998 and December 2005. A total of 467,809 serious complications were...

• How do defective drugs get through the system?

  Staff Writer | October 27, 2006 1:09 PM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  In order for a prescription or over-the-counter drug to be available for sale, it must undergo a long and complicated process with pharmaceutical company and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before receiving approval. This process takes an average of four years and a great investment on the part of pharmaceutical companies. There are also many phases of testing for a drug to undergo before...

• Physicians say litigation helps ensure drug safety

  Wendi Lewis | August 18, 2008 10:27 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  Attorneys who take on the pharmaceutical industry as a voice for consumers injured by medications found an unlikely ally this week, in doctors. Noting that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration is often "overwhelmed" by drug safety problems ranging from serious side effects to unsafe manufacturing facilities, editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said patients benefit from information uncovered by attorneys during liability investigations, according to an Associated Press report released Friday.

• Class I Recall on Medtronic Drug Pump

  Shannon Weidemann | March 20, 2008 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  Medtronic warned doctors in January of an increase in inflammatory masses around their implantable infusion pumps. The warnings involved the SynchroMed and IsoMed infusion pumps. They deliver medications to patients. The FDA has now said that makes it a Class I recall. The Food and Drug Administration defines a Class I recall as a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that use...

• Contamination Found in Recalled Heparin

  Shannon Weidemann | March 07, 2008 8:59 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  Researchers have found a contaminent in samples of recalled Heparin that are chemically similar to the drug but may explain the adverse reactions that have been reported. The FDA is unsure how the contaminant got into the Heparin. Initial testing did not reveal the contamination due to the similarity. High-tech testing by Baxter and other groups uncovered a heparin-like compound in batches of...

• China States Importing Countries Responsible for Drug Safety

  Shannon Weidemann | February 27, 2008 8:59 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  The agency responsible for drug safety in China has stated that it is the responsiblity of importing countries and companies to inspect and certify drugs are safe. The statement follows a recall by Baxter for the blood-thinning drug heparin. Four people have died and there have been hundreds of reports of adverse reactions following the use of the drug. "We attach high importance to this,"...

• Merck Recalls HIB Vaccine

  Shannon Weidemann | December 12, 2007 7:38 PM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  It was announced today that Merck is recalling 1.2 Million doses of its HIB and Comvax vaccine. The recalled vaccines are used to prevent pnuemonia, meningitis, and hepatitis B and are generally injected into children under the age of five. The plant were the vaccines are manufactured is contaminated, although Merck has not said with what. The recall involves 11 lots of a Hib vaccine,...

• Deadly staph infections on the rise

  Kimberly French | October 18, 2007 10:41 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  It's all over the news lately, and yesterday there was a staph infection death in Kern County, Virginia, prompting the entire school district to close. A student reportedly died from a staph infection that proved resistant to antibiotic treatments. The story on MSNBC.com reports that more than a third of the population may carry staphylococcus infection. MRSA is the deadliest variety of staph...

• Child Cold Meds Pulled From Shelves

  Courtney Mills | October 12, 2007 9:18 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  Major consumer manufacturers of over-the-counter infant cough and cold medications recalled fourteen different infant cold meds yesterday because of the danger of overdose of these medicines in young children.Consumer groups have long advocated changes in administering cough syrup to young children, especially two and younger. In this age group the risk of toxicity and overdose is much higher...