FDA & Prescription Drugs

• E. Coli Prompts Recall of Beef In 15 States

  Lee Coleman | May 17, 2007 4:30 PM | 0 CommentsBowling Green, KY

  The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the meat products were being sold by Gordon Food Service Stores and were made in March and April by Davis Creek Meats out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Nearly 130,000 pounds of beef products have a possible E. coli contamination. E. coli can cause severe diarrhea and may cause bloody stool, it can also cause such complications as kidney failure."The products...

• Epilepsy Drug Study Links It To Retardation In Children

  Lee Coleman | May 04, 2007 3:42 PM | 0 CommentsBowling Green, KY

  The annual meeting of the Academy of Neurology in Boston documented the potential dangers of the drug Valproate in unborn children. Researchers say that one in four women who took the drug while pregnant gave birth to children who were mentally retarded, that's double the rate of those who took other epilepsy medications."Dr. Jacqueline French, a professor of neurology at the University of...

• Boston Scientific/Guidant Recall

  Lee Coleman | April 17, 2007 2:16 PM | 0 CommentsBowling Green, KY

  Boston Scientific/Guidant Contack Renewal 3 & 4, Vitality and Vitality 2 implantable cardiac defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators have been recalled. This is similar to the recall of the May 2006 but the patient outcomes and failure modes are different. Around 73,000 of these are recalled due to faulty capacitors. This may cause accelerated battery depletion and...

• Zelnorm Pulled From Market

  Lee Coleman | March 31, 2007 10:16 PM | 0 CommentsBowling Green, KY

  The FDA said today that the Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation has agreed to stop selling Zelnorm. New safety analysis has found a higher chance for stroke, heart attacks, worsening heart chest pain that can become a heart attack. Zelnorm treats irritable bowel syndrome with constipation."The number of patients who suffered a heart attack, stroke or severe heart chest pain that can turn into a...

• Parkinson's Drug Can Cause Heart Damage

  Lee Coleman | March 30, 2007 12:31 PM | 0 CommentsBowling Green, KY

  Yesterday we told you about the FDA's withdrawal of the drug pergolide sold under the brand Permax. An earlier study published in January in The New England Journal of Medicine shows that Permax and the drug cabergoline (brand name Dostinex) cause the same kind of damage that led to the the recall of the diet drug Fen-Phen. Dostinex is prescribed for a condition called hyperprolactinemia, where...

• Permax To Be Removed From Market

  Lee Coleman | March 29, 2007 4:31 PM | 0 CommentsBowling Green, KY

  The FDA announced today that the manufacturers of pergolide drug products (trade name Permax and two generic versions) will voluntarily remove these from the market. The drug is used to treat Parkinson's disease and may cause serious damage to patients' heart valves. An estimated 12,000 patients received prescriptions for pergolide from pharmacies in the United States in 2006. Patients should...

• Anemia Drugs Get New Black Box Warnings

  Lee Coleman | March 12, 2007 3:06 PM | 0 CommentsBowling Green, KY

  Friday the FDA issued strong new warnings for doctors to prescribe carefully in the widely used anemia drugs that could cause serious problems and a risk of death in patients with cancer and kidney disease. The drugs under the brand names of Procrit, Epogen and Aranesp are the ones at issue. Recent studies found the too much of the drugs can cause increased risk of blood clots, strokes, heart...

• Children's Cold Medicine Getting A Closer Look By FDA

  Lee Coleman | March 04, 2007 6:09 AM | 0 CommentsBowling Green, KY

  The FDA is taking a closer look at the safety of cold and cough medicines for children. They feel the medicines have not been studied enough, especially in those younger than 2 years old. The CDC recently did a study that found more than 1,500 children under the age of 2 had experienced serious health problems, and three had died, all after taking common cold medicines in 2004-05. Taken in high...

• Peanut Butter Salmonella Found In Processing Plant

  Lee Coleman | March 02, 2007 9:24 AM | 0 CommentsBowling Green, KY

  The U.S. FDA confirmed after inspections of ConAgra's plant in Sylvester, Ga. that samples taken from the plant did show the salmonella that sparked the recall on Peter Pan peanut butter and Great Value brand peanut butter. This strain matches what had already been found in jars that were recalled. There have been 370 reported cases of salmonella poisoning in 42 states. But more cases may be...

• Peanut Butter Salmonellosis Outbreak Update

  Lee Coleman | February 28, 2007 11:34 AM | 0 CommentsBowling Green, KY

  The CDC announced yesterday that as of 12 p.m. February 27th, 370 people had been infected with the Salmonella Tennessee from 42 states. Out of 294 that clinical information was available for 60 had been hospitalized for this illness. The dates for the sickness range from August 1, 2006 to February 16, 2007. Most of the illnesses came after December 1, 2006. The recall for the Peter Pan and...