Four More People Die From Tainted Romaine Lettuce
Four more people have died from tainted romaine lettuce, federal health officials said Friday, bringing the total to five deaths related to a virulent strain of E. coli whose source has still not been located.
In addition, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the case count: 197 people from 35 states...
Imerys Unit Settles Talc Claims for at Least $5 Million
A unit of Imerys SA agreed to settle claims by 22 women that talc it supplied to Johnson & Johnson for baby powder was tainted with asbestos and caused their cancers.
The Paris-based minerals company’s unit didn’t acknowledge that the talc was tainted or dangerous. The terms of the settlement are closely guarded and won’t...
FDA issues recall alert for Medtronic device that fights heart failure
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued a recall alert for a Medtronic blood-pumping device called the HeartWare HVAD System, citing a problem that could result in serious health issues or death.
Medtronic voluntarily notified physicians that 16,399 HeartWare HVAD systems implanted in patients as of May 22 could be susceptible to a...
Romaine lettuce made 172 people sick. Government investigators might never know why.
More than seven weeks after the start of a massive E. coli illness outbreak from romaine lettuce that sickened 172 people and caused romaine sales to plummet 45 percent, the Food and Drug Administration says it has no idea who or what caused the contamination.
Agency investigators have not managed to trace the affected lettuce...
No Verdict Reached in J&J Baby Powder Case
A South Carolina judge declared a mistrial in a case against Johnson & Johnson alleging that exposure to asbestos in its Johnson’s Baby Powder caused a woman’s fatal cancer.
Jurors in Darlington County state court were unable to reach a unanimous decision on Friday in the case brought by the husband of Bertila Boyd-Bostic, according...
Weak oversight of medical devices jeopardizes patient safety
Pain in her arm and lightheadedness sent Doris Jones to the emergency room at Savannah’s Memorial Health University Medical Center. A scan there soon revealed a shock. A filter placed in her bloodstream years before to catch clots had fractured, and debris was migrating toward her heart.
While the main part of the filter was...
FDA Slams Teething Medicines As Unsafe in Latest Consumer Public Health Push
One of the most significant balancing acts in medicine involves figuring out when—and which—treatments do more harm than good. It’s an issue that has implications for everything from the opioid crisis to the rising rate of ADHD drug overdoses to the generally lavish (and unaffordable) cost of American health care, which still favors the...
FDA issues health alert for clinical trials treating low PD-L1 bladder cancer with pembrolizumab or atezolizumab
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is alerting health care professionals, oncology clinical investigators, and the public about decreased survival associated with the use of pembrolizumab or atezolizumab as single therapy (monotherapy) in clinical trials to treat patients with metastatic urothelial cancer who have not received prior therapy and who have low expression of...
Medicines were tainted with pesticides in sloppy drug facility, FDA warns
A drug manufacturer used the same uncleaned equipment to make pesticides as it did several human drugs, according to a warning letter released by the Food and Drug Administration. The result was that at least two medicines were contaminated with pesticides, the agency noted.
The FDA’s sternly worded letter charged that drug manufacturer Product Quest...
Fiat Chrysler recalling 51K Jeep Cherokees because of fire risk
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is recalling more than 51,000 of its 2018 Jeep Cherokees because of a fire risk.
The company said it is unaware of any accidents or injuries related to the defect, involving fuel-supply tubes that could leak. The campaign is limited to SUVs with a 2.4-liter engine and does not include the refreshed...
