Current Events

Bayer announced it would stop selling its Essure birth control device at the end of 2018. It’s the end of the device in the U.S., but it may only be the beginning of more controversy surrounding the implant.

Bayer insists its decision to discontinue Essure was a financial decision.
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The first man died in April 2014. Another died later that month. Then on July 18 of that year, a woman was rushed to a hospital where she was told she was lucky to be alive.

They all went to the same Little Rock, Ark., surgery center for a colonoscopy, among the safest procedures a patient can have.
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That poorly ventilated conference room isn’t the only place with the potential for sick-air syndrome.

Airliner cockpits can also have levels of carbon dioxide elevated enough that in simulations it causes pilots to fail test maneuvers at higher rates than normal, a new Harvard University study has found.

The first-of-its-kind research suggests that current regulations aren’t adequate to assure there’s enough fresh air in airline flight decks and raises questions about whether even moderately elevated carbon dioxide levels could impact safety, said Joseph Allen, an assistant professor at Harvard’s School of Public Health and lead author of the study.

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(Reuters) - Insys Therapeutics said on Wednesday it had reached a deal to pay at least $150 million to resolve a U.S. Justice Department investigation into claims that the drugmaker paid doctors kickbacks to prescribe a powerful opioid medication.

Insys announced the tentative deal shortly before a former district sales manager pleaded guilty in a federal court in Connecticut to engaging in a scheme to pay medical practitioners kickbacks to prescribe the company’s opioid product Subsys.

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AstraZeneca agreed to pay $110 million to settle two lawsuits in the US claiming that the company fraudulently marketed Seroquel (quetiapine) and Crestor (rosuvastatin). "While we deny the allegations, it is in the best interests of the company to resolve these matters…while avoiding the delay, uncertainty and expense of protracted litigation," the drugmaker said.

Under the settlements with the state of Texas, AstraZeneca will pay $90 million to resolve allegations that the company encouraged doctors to use Seroquel for unapproved uses and $20 million to cover claims related to Crestor. Texas had sought $5 billion under the lawsuits, claiming that AstraZeneca had falsely and misleadingly marketed the two drugs.

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A popular drug used to treat high blood pressure has been recalled because some products may contain a cancer-causing chemical.

In an ongoing investigation, the Food & Drug Administration has expanded the swath of the recall of the drug valsartan, which is used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. The recalled drugs, manufactured by Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceuticals in Linhai, China, contain the chemical N-nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA, which has been found to cause cancer in humans based on laboratory studies, the agency says.

Last month, the FDA issued a voluntary recall for some valsartan tablets and has since expanded it twice to include additional products from more drug companies, as well as some tablets with valsartan and hydrochlorothisazide (HCTZ).

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Some 395 people have become sick from eating tainted McDonald's salads, according to an updated count from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The illnesses have been linked to salad mix contaminated with the Cyclospora parasite, which is spread through fecal matter. Sixteen individuals have been hospitalized, according to the CDC.

Fifteen states have confirmed cases, primarily in the Midwest. Illinois, where McDonald's is headquartered, has the most: 202.
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A proposed class action filed on Thursday accuses New York state of improperly denying medically necessary dental care to thousands of residents eligible for Medicaid coverage by banning or restricting certain services such as dental implants.

Two New York residents who were denied coverage for dental care and who are represented by the Legal Aid Society filed the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan seeking an order barring the state from continuing to restrict coverage.

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In 2011, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration first warned of a link between breast implants and a mysterious new cancer, it said the risk was vanishingly rare, far less than one in 500,000. Allergan, an implant maker, declared, “A woman is more likely to be struck by lightning than get this condition.”

Now, seven years later, the scientific consensus is that implants with textured surfaces – not ones with smooth surfaces – cause the disease, called breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) is facing government probes into its use of low-income housing tax credits, and has also set aside $8 million to compensate borrowers who were incorrectly denied mortgage modifications under a federal assistance program, the bank said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

The new disclosures add to Wells Fargo’s numerous regulatory penalties, private lawsuits and remediation efforts. Most stem from a sales practices scandal that has touched on all of the bank’s major business units.

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Just when you thought it was safe to go back to salad, federal food safety inspectors are warning of another potential cyclospora contamination, this time affecting salads and wraps sold by Trader Joe’s, Walgreens and Kroger.

The new recall, which the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued this week, does not affect the Kroger-owned Mariano’s grocery chain, company spokesman Jim Hyland said Wednesday.

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