Supplements touting brain benefits may contain unauthorized ingredient
Many supplements marketed for brain health may contain piracetam, an ingredient not proven effective for preventing or easing dementia or cognitive impairment and not approved for sale in the U.S., researchers say.
In an analysis of five products purchased online, researchers found that four contained piracetam, sometimes in dangerously high amounts. The fifth, which was...
J&J Can’t Get $70 Million Risperdal Award Tossed on Appeal
A Pennsylvania appeals court upheld a $70 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit charging its Risperdal anti-psychotic drug caused a man to grow female breasts and also ruled that punitive damages may be available in the case.
In addition to upholding the verdict for Tennessee resident Andrew Yount, the Pennsylvania Superior Court...
Don’t eat romaine lettuce from California’s Salinas Valley, CDC warns
Federal health and regulatory officials warned consumers Friday not to eat romaine lettuce of any kind harvested from the Salinas Valley, one of California’s major agricultural regions, because it may be contaminated with a particularly dangerous type of E. coli bacteria that has sickened 40 people in 16 states.
The Centers for Disease Control and...
Johnson & Johnson loses pelvic mesh class action in Australia
More than 1,350 Australian women won a seven-year-old class action lawsuit on Thursday against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for misleading patients and surgeons about the risks of the pharmaceutical giant’s pelvic mesh implants.
The suit is one of many J&J has faced in the United States, Canada and Europe over the implants, used to treat...
Moms still seeking answers from IKEA after deaths of their children
IKEA pulled in $6 billion in U.S. sales last year. Crystal Ellis wants that number to be lower.
The Seattle mom's 2-year-old son, Camden, was killed by a falling IKEA dresser in 2014, which has since been recalled by the company. Three years later, she requested to meet with the president of the retailer, pleading...
Phillips recalls imaging system over concerns that it might crush patients
The Food and Drug Administration has issued a Class 1 recall—its most serious such notice—of the Forte Gamma Camera System, worried it could cause serious injury or even death.
Concerns stem from the possibility that the 660-pound system’s detector may become detached from the device without warning, potentially crushing or trapping patients, according to an...
FDA Keeps Brand-Name Drugs On A Fast Path To Market ― Despite Manufacturing Concerns
After unanimously voting to recommend a miraculous hepatitis C drug for approval in 2013, a panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration gushed about what they’d accomplished.
“I voted ‘yes’ because, quite simply, this is a game changer,” National Institutes of Health hepatologist Dr. Marc Ghany said of Sovaldi, Gilead Science’s new pill...
State health officials clueless on cause of vaping-related illnesses
State officials on Monday admitted that they haven’t identified a cause for the ongoing epidemic of lung-related illnesses linked to vaping.
“No single product or chemical substance has been definitively linked to all lung injury cases,” Brad Hutton, deputy commissioner at the state Department of Health testified at a state Senate hearing in Manhattan.
Data Breaches Cost Hospitals $4B Annually
The total cost of data breaches at healthcare organizations is projected to reach $4 billion by the end of 2019, according to a Black Book survey released Monday morning.
Nearly all information technology (IT) professionals at provider organizations believe that data hackers are outpacing organizational efforts to protect sensitive healthcare data, a trend which is...
J&J Recalls Surgical Tool After Patient Death, Serious Injuries
Johnson & Johnson is recalling a surgical stapler after reports that seven patients were seriously injured and one died, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
The device, made by J&J’s Ethicon unit, is used to simultaneously cut and staple tissue back together during surgery. But problems with a part caused misformed staples that...
