Current Events

One of the nation’s leading cancer centers will no longer offer Zantac and its generics to patients, as it reviews the potential cancer risk from the discovery of a carcinogen in the popular stomach pills.

A Long Island teen has filed a class action suit against e-cigarette maker Juul, claiming the company used strategies from the traditional tobacco industry to “manipulate” users to keep them hooked.

A Nebraska man has become the 14th person to die in the nationwide vaping-related epidemic, officials said Monday.

The man, who was only identified as over 65 and from Douglas County, succumbed to a lung illness linked to e-cigarettes in May, before the multi-state outbreak was officially reported, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

Read More

The pharmacy chains are pulling the heartburn medication from shelves after the Food and Drug Administration warned that it had detected low levels of a cancer-causing chemical in samples of the drug.

Read More

A recall of common blood pressure medication losartan has been expanded for a fifth time after manufacturer Torrent Pharmaceuticals found a possibly carcinogenic impurity in more batches of the drug, federal health officials said.

Three additional lots of losartan potassium tablets and two additional lots of losartan potassium/hydrochlorothiazide tablets were under recall, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.

The lots contained levels of N-Nitroso-N-methyl-4-aminobutyric acid (NMBA) above the acceptable daily intake levels determined by the FDA.
Read more . . .

A division of Swiss pharmaceutical maker Novartis is halting distribution of generic Zantac pills over concerns about an ingredient possibly linked to cancer.

Novartis-owned Sandoz has issued a "precautionary distribution stop" of all medicines containing ranitidine, an antacid and antihistamine used to block stomach acid.

The stop "in all our markets will remain in place" until "further clarification," Novartis said.

"Our internal investigation is ongoing to determine further details," the company said.

The move came after the Food and Drug Administration last week said it had detected low levels of a probable carcinogen in the heartburn drug Zantac and its generic versions.
Read more . . .

Bloomberg Law tracks recent federal government administrative actions and warnings directed toward pharmaceutical and life sciences entities.

Read More

(Reuters) - Survivors of a 2015 mass shooting at a South Carolina church can sue the U.S. government over its alleged negligence in allowing Dylann Roof to buy the gun he used to kill nine African-Americans, a federal appeals court said on Friday.

Read More

An 18-year-old showed up in a Long Island emergency room, gasping for breath, vomiting and dizzy. When a doctor asked if the teenager had been vaping, he said no.

The patient’s older brother, a police officer, was suspicious. He rummaged through the youth’s room and found hidden vials of marijuana for vaping.

Read More

How long is too long to be on antidepressants?

More Americans are taking antidepressant medications like Prozac and Zoloft for extended periods of time: One-quarter of people on the drugs have used them for a decade or more, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. But even the longest rigorous studies of antidepressants’ safety and efficacy have followed patients for only a couple of years.

Read More

Companies that make reusable, snakelike cameras to examine patients internally should begin making disposable versions, because the current models cannot be properly sterilized and have spread infections from one patient to another, the Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday.

Read More