Current Events

(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday classified the recall of Abbott Laboratories’ CentriMag blood pumping system following the death of a patient, as Class 1 or the most serious type of recall.

The CentriMag System pumps blood through a patient for up to six hours during open heart procedures and is also used to provide temporary blood circulatory support to patients for up to 30 days.

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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.

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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 failed to properly close incisions, the FDA said in a statement, leading to potential leakage, bleeding or more surgery.

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Lawyers for consumers who claim harm from tainted versions of the blood pressure-lowering drug valsartan want to expand litigation to include at least two other drugs, losartan and irbesartan.

Dozens of consumers have already filed personal-injury lawsuits around the country claiming they were diagnosed with cancer or sustained other injuries after taking valsartan contaminated with probable carcinogens.  

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new report Monday with first-time details about some of the people who have died from vaping-related illnesses.

As of Thursday, more than 1,600 people have come down with vaping-related illnesses, and at least 34 people have died.

Of those 34 people, the CDC had data about the substances used for 19 of them. Eighty-four percent used THC-containing products, either with or without nicotine, with 63 percent reporting that they used THC products only. Only 16 percent reported using exclusively nicotine products.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating whether the popular heartburn drug Zantac causes carcinogens to form in the bodies of users, in an effort to fully understand the risks posed by the already recalled drug, the agency’s spokesman said on Thursday.

The issue of whether ranitidine, commonly known as Zantac, causes levels of the probable carcinogen N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) to rise in users’ bodies has been raised previously by Valisure, an online pharmacy that originally flagged the potential contamination of ranitidine to the FDA.

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Walmart Stores Inc. and CVS Health Corp. are pulling some bottles of Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder off store shelves after government regulators found tiny amounts of asbestos in one lot of the talc-based product.

Rhode Island-based CVS, the largest U.S. pharmacy chain by locations, said Thursday it’s removing all 22-ounce-sized Baby Powder bottles from its stores and off its website. J&J issued a limited recall last week.

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“We unequivocally believe that our talc and our baby powder does not contain asbestos,” Gorsky testified in an Oct. 3 deposition in a case involving a retired Indiana college professor who alleges his cancer was caused by the Baby Powder he used for decades. The deposition has not been previously reported.

Johnson & Johnson is recalling a batch of its baby powder after discovering small amounts of cancer-causing chrysotile asbestos in the product.

The recall comes as the company remains embroiled in a controversy over accusations that talc in its baby powder caused ovarian cancer, a connection the company has repeatedly denied.

(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay nearly $117 million to resolve allegations that it deceptively marketed transvaginal surgical mesh devices, U.S. state attorneys general said on Thursday.

Lung illnesses and deaths linked to vaping nationwide have continued to rise as federal health officials expand lab testing to understand the mysterious afflictions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

As of Oct. 15, the CDC has confirmed 33 deaths among 1,479 lung injuries associated with the use of e-cigarettes — up from at least 1,299 cases and 26 deaths announced last week. The cases span every state but Alaska, as well as the District of Columbia and one U.S. territory.