Pfizer agrees to truth in opioid marketing
Pfizer, the world’s second- largest drug company, has agreed to a written code of conduct for the marketing of opioids that some officials hope will set a standard for manufacturers of narcotics and help curb the use of the addictive painkillers.
Though Pfizer does not sell many opioids compared with other industry leaders, its action...
Philadelphia jury pins $70m verdict on Janssen for its Risperdal drug
A Philadelphia jury found Friday that the antipsychotic drug Risperdal caused a Tennessee boy to grow breasts and imposed a $70 million verdict on its manufacturer, Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
Lawyers for the boy argued that scientists for the company were well aware of the risks and sought to downplay them. The company disputed that allegation during...
Germs cling to hard-to-clean medical scopes, Swedish and other Providence hospitals find
Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center and 20 other hospitals tested dozens of specialized medical scopes every day for a month — and found bacteria remained even after rigorous cleaning.
Medical scopes used at 21 Providence Health & Services hospitals in Washington and four other states remained contaminated with bacteria even after cleaning — the same problem...
VW Said Ready With $10 Billion Diesel Plan, to Devise Fix Later
About $6.5 billion will go to car owners and $3.5 billion to the U.S. government and California regulators, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deal isn’t public yet. Because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board haven’t approved VW’s proposed fixes, the deal as of...
Suit claims Intuitive’s da Vinci caused metallic microemboli in patient’s brains
The complaint was filed this week in Georgia’s Northern District Court.
Plaintiffs in the case, Gabrial Nassar Cure and...
FDA Strengthens SGLT-2 Kidney Risk Warnings
The FDA is strengthening a warning on the labels of two diabetes drugs to reflect risk of acute kidney injuries.
New labels for the two sodium-glucose transport 2 (SGLT-2) drugs -- canagliflozin (Invokana) and dapagliflozin (Farxiga) -- will have more information about acute kidney injuries and add recommendations about how to minimize risk, said the...
Lawmakers, experts outline steps to battle drug-resistant superbugs
Congress can fight antibiotic resistance by funding programs to curb unnecessary prescriptions, speeding up the drug development process and improving testing to determine whether a patient has a virus or a bacterial infection, federal government health experts said Tuesday.
They spoke at a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee...
Costco Canada caught up in recall of frozen organic vegetables
Organic by Nature brand frozen sweet peas are the implicated food this time, following Costco’s April 15 recall of Nature’s Touch brand organic berry cherry blend. The frozen organic fruit is...
Fiat Chrysler Announces Recall of 1.1 Million Autos
Fiat Chrysler said on Friday that it was recalling 1.1 million vehicles that can roll away unexpectedly and cause injuries when the transmission is not used properly, adding to a spate of recent safety actions by carmakers.
Safety recalls in the United States have continued to mount this year as automakers react to...
Warning: Supplements and medications may not mix
Americans are taking more prescription medications. They also are taking more supplements — everything from vitamin and mineral pills to fish and flax seed oils. The natural result: More are combining drugs and supplements. That may be riskier than many consumers realize.
Some are risking dangerous internal bleeding by combining certain supplements with blood-thinning drugs. Others are...
