Current Events

Pfizer and Eli Lilly’s long journey to a potential FDA approval for tanezumab still looked rocky today after review documents from the regulator cast doubt over its safety.

Ahead of an outside expert committee meeting midweek, the FDA as always released its thoughts and discussion points on the drug, and, while finding strong evidence that it helps osteoarthritis patients, it says there are critical safety risks that may cost the partners a straight shot on goal.

The main safety worry is so-called rapidly progressing osteoarthritis, or RPOA, which the companies are aware of. They are looking to run the drug under the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) to try to keep a close eye on this issue.

New York (CNN Business) - Peloton is warning owners to keep their children away from their treadmills after an accident involving its Tread+ in which a child died.

CEO John Foley sent a letter to Tread+ owners Thursday, saying the warning comes after a "tragic accident involving a child and the Tread+, resulting in, unthinkably, a death."

He didn't reveal details of the fatal accident, but he did note Peloton is "aware of only a small handful of incidents involving the Tread+ where children have been hurt."

Overall, exercise equipment as a category can be particularly dangerous for children: 25,000 kids under the age of 10 are injured by exercise equipment each year, according to a 2014 study from the US National Institutes of Health. In 2019, the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates U.
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Twelve years ago, the U.S. government introduced a powerful new tool to help people make a wrenching decision: which nursing home to choose for loved ones at their most vulnerable. Using a simple star rating — one being the worst, five the best — the system promised to distill reams of information and transform an emotional process into one based on objective, government-blessed metrics.

The star system quickly became ubiquitous, a popular way for consumers to educate themselves and for nursing homes to attract new customers.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Friday it will begin notifying owners April 1 in its new recall of 2.9 million vehicles in North America with potentially defective driver-side Takata air bags after U.S. regulators demanded the fix in January.

The second largest U.
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(Reuters) - Adaptive cruise control systems on cars, which control braking and speed, raise the risk of traffic crashes because the technology leads drivers to go faster, a U.S. study found on Thursday.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that drivers using adaptive cruise control (ACC) were more likely to set a target speed that was over the limit because of the perception that the system enhanced their safety.

The research concluded that drivers using the technology were at a 10% higher risk of a fatal crash compared to manual drivers due to the faster cruising speeds selected.
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Medtronic has recalled 157 HVAD pump implant kits, which help the heart pump blood to the rest of the body, for delays or failures to restart after the pump is stopped.

Two deaths have been reported in the 29 complaints about the device’s issues, complaints also include 19 serious injuries and eight cases where patients had a life-threatening event but recovered without long-term effects

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. auto safety regulators on Monday said they have opened an investigation into nearly 1.9 million Toyota RAV4 sport-utility vehicles over potential fire risks.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the preliminary evaluation looking at 2013-2018 RAV4 vehicles comes after 11 reports of fires.
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Johnson & Johnson said it set aside almost $4 billion to cover the biggest verdict against the company over its Baby Powder and other settlements while it’s appealing the 2018 loss to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a Monday securities filing, J&J said it was taking a “litigation expense of $3.9 billion” related to ‘primarily talc-related reserves and certain settlements.
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Ford Motor Co. on Monday announced it is recalling thousands of its profit-rich F-Series trucks due to windshield defects.

The Dearborn automaker said the front windshields on certain 2021 F-150 and 2020 and 2021 Super Duty trucks "are inadequately bonded to the vehicle body structure," meaning the windshield may not stay in place during a crash. The recall affects 79,017 vehicles in the U.S.
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Amazon.com Inc. has failed to comply with workplace safety rules during the pandemic and retaliated against warehouse workers who raised concerns, New York alleged in a lawsuit against the retail giant.

“Amazon’s flagrant disregard for health and safety requirements has threatened serious illness and grave harm to the thousands of workers in these facilities and poses a continued substantial and specific danger to the public health,” Letitia James, the state’s attorney general, said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Amazon sued New York last week, claiming James was overstepping her authority in trying to regulate the company’s workplace safety responses.
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Troops have filed $2.16 billion in medical malpractice claims under a 2019 law that required a system of compensation for victims, according to the military services.

The total, which hasn’t been previously reported, represents 227 cases that have yet to be adjudicated. The Army, which is the largest branch of the military, reported $845 million in malpractice claims. The Air Force reported $530 million, while the Navy and Marine Corps reported a combined total of $781 million.
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