Medications can vastly improve the lives of people living with chronic diseases and illnesses. As medical advances are made, treatment is regulated and monitored by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). What happens when prescription drugs and the FDA fail to protect the health of Americans? Let D’Arcy Johnson Day explain.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has strengthened its warnings about prescribing codeine for children because of reports of deaths and risks for dangerous side effects including breathing problems. The academy’s advice, published in a report Monday in its medical journal, Pediatrics, mirrors warnings from the…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a safety alert about a line of cleansing hair conditioners after receiving a slew of complaints about hair loss, bald spots, itching and rashes. Some 21,000 people have lodged complaints with the manufacturers of WEN by Chaz Dean…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved safety labeling changes for a class of antibiotics, called fluoroquinolones, to enhance warnings about their association with disabling and potentially permanent side effects and to limit their use in patients with less serious bacterial infections. An earlier…
The FDA has recently warned that higher than recommended doses of the diarrhea drug loperamide (Imodium) can cause serious and even fatal cardiac arrhythmias. The risk of these serious heart problems may also be increased when high doses of loperamide are taken with several kinds…
Por segunda vez en tres meses, un jurado de St. Louis ha ordenado a Johnson & Johnson a otorgar $55 millones de dólares a una mujer que afirmó haber desarrollado cáncer endometrioide como resultado del uso de polvos de talco por años. El fallo de…
In July of 2015, Governor Chris Christie signed into law a bill that required drug prescribers and pharmacists in New Jersey to register for access to the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program. Christie said the bill would help prevent so-called “doctor shopping” whereby some people seek…
On April 1, 2016, a proposed limit on “inorganic” arsenic in infant rice cereal was announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Infant rice cereal is a leading source of arsenic exposure in babies, the agency said, since arsenic can find its way into…
The Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday that it was requiring new “boxed warnings” for immediate-release (IR) opioid pain medications such as Oxycontin, Percocet and Vicodin. Hoping to curb a national epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse, the FDA is requiring a new boxed warning…
Zofran is the marketed name of Ondansetron, an anti-nausea medication that is sometimes prescribed to women in the first trimester of their pregnancy to treat morning sickness. The manufacturer is alleged to have encouraged doctors to prescribe this powerful medication to pregnant women although it…
The prescription blood-thinner Pradaxa was first prescribed to prevent blood clots in people with atrial fibrillation. While the anti-clotting action of Pradaxa can treat this condition, it can also lead to potentially fatal bleeding. Pradaxa was approved in October 2010. It was considered an upgrade…
