May 29th, 2008 joshua
Pfizer is set to blitz print media and send letters to doctors in an attempt to squash the bad press its stop smoking drug, Chantix, has received in recent weeks.
The company has released newspaper ads in the country’s five biggest dailies, including New York Times and Wall Street Journal. It allegedly sent letters to 300,000 […]
May 29th, 2008 joshua
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced earlier this week truck drivers and bus drivers are banned from using the stop smoking drug, Chantix.
The agency says the drug adversely affects a driver’s performance and physical condition. This announcement comes on the heels of the FAA banning the drug’s use among pilots and air traffic controllers.
The […]
May 29th, 2008 amy
On Wednesday the FDA proposed changes to prescription drug labels that would detail potential health effects for pregnant and breast-feeding women, their fetuses or their newborns.
The proposed system would replace the current system that relies on letter designations to describe the risks of a drug when taken during pregnancy or breast-feeding. This system was […]
May 28th, 2008 amy
Apparently even the presidential candidates don’t want to waste their money on Vytorin. John Eckstein, John McCain’s internist, told reporters during a briefing Friday the senator switched to a generic statin — simvastatin — after the Vytorin study was presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting. The study, known as Enhance, was also published […]
May 28th, 2008 amy
The FDA has asked SEI Pharmaceuticals to recall all Xiadafil VIP Tabs sold in 8 tablet bottles (Lot # 6K029) or blister cards of 2 tablets (Lot # 6K029-SEI) because these products contain a potentially harmful, undeclared ingredient that may dangerously affect a person’s blood pressure and can cause other life-threatening side effects. These lots […]
May 27th, 2008 joshua
The LA Times reported last week about a non-profit study of the quit smoking drug, Chantix, which links it to at least two dozen traffic accidents.
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices linked the drug to the accidents in a recently released study.
All the accidents it documents link the driver error to seizures caused by Chantix, […]
May 27th, 2008 amy
New research published in the May 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine indicates that elderly people with dementia who are given antipsychotics, even for a very short period of time, are more likely to end up in the hospital or even die, HealthDay News reports. Unfortunately, the problems underlying the need for such […]
May 23rd, 2008 amy
When the wrong dangerous drugs are dosed out at the pharmacy, who pays? Sometimes, the pharmacy pays. But the sick people pay more — at least with their health.
It seems in Colorado, at least, pharmacy mistakes often occur when drug names look alike. According to a recent 9NEWS report, one Safeway customer, on nine separate […]
May 23rd, 2008 joshua
The Federal Aviation Administration has banned pilots and air traffic controllers from taking the anti-smoking drug, Chantix.
A report from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices points out hundreds of serious problems reported since the drug was released in 2006. Chantix is associated with dizziness, loss of consciousness, seizures, abnormal spasms and movements and the report […]
May 23rd, 2008 joshua
Merck has agreed to pay $58 million to settle a lawsuit arguing its ads for the painkiller, Vioxx, deliberately played down the drug’s side effects and health risks, AP reports.
Merck must also submit any new advertisements to the Food and Drug Administration for approval before they can be aired.
The company is now barred from “ghostwriting” […]
