Current Events

A rare cancer first linked to breast implants in 2011 has now been associated with nine deaths, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.

As of Feb. 1, the agency had received a total of 359 reports of the cancer associated with the implants. The deaths were not caused by breast cancer, the agency said, but by a rare malignancy in the immune system, anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. In cases linked to implants, this rare form of cancer grows in the breast, usually in the capsule of scar tissue that forms around an implant.
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Another legal salvo has been fired against top insulin makers, accusing them of colluding on prices, but this class action suit also targets pharmacy benefit managers CVS, Express Scripts and UnitedHealth’s OptumRx, claiming they were part of the alleged scheme.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in New Jersey last week, and four individual plaintiffs were joined by the Type 1 Diabetes Defense Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports patients with Type 1 diabetes. The suit alleges violations of ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

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A U.S. appeals court on Monday upheld a $2.1 million award to a woman whose lawsuit against Wright Medical Group was the first to go to trial in multidistrict litigation over injuries blamed on the company's Conserve hip replacement system.

The 11th U.
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Highly trained workers generally work faster, but they are more likely to make mistakes after they are interrupted, a new study finds.

Patients who received Abbott Laboratories' novel dissolving vascular stent had a significantly higher rate of serious adverse heart events than those treated with the company's widely used Xience drug-coated metal stent two years after implantation, according to data presented on Saturday.

The FDA has issued a safety announcement warning that Viberzi should not be used in patients who do not have a gallbladder due to an increased risk for serious pancreatitis.

Emails released as part of a federal lawsuit against Monsanto suggest the agriculture supplier cozied up to an EPA regulator and sought to whitewash studies to ignore potential cancer-causing effects of an herbicide found in weed-killer.

Nissan North America is recalling 54,751 Nissan Versa cars in the 2012 model year because degradation of the side-impact sensor connector pins may cause some air bags to deploy unexpectedly if the door is slammed, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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Three women suffered severe, permanent eye damage after stem cells were injected into their eyes, in an unproven treatment at a loosely regulated clinic in Florida, doctors reported in an article published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

One, 72, went completely blind from the injections, and the others, 78 and 88, lost much of their eyesight. Before the procedure, all had some visual impairment but could see well enough to drive.

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Four members of a congressional committee have asked the NFL and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to answer to the allegations made in lawsuit alleging team medical and league officials ignored safety standards and the law when it came to dispensing painkillers to players.

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BMW of North America is recalling 121,737 vehicles so dealers can fix a problem with the front driveshaft’s universal joint, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The recall covers 2011- to 2013-model year X5 xDrive35i, X5 xDrive50i, X5 M and X5 xDrive35d vehicles; 2011-2014 X6 xDrive35i, X6 xDrive50i and X6M vehicles; and 2011 X6 ActiveHybrid vehicles.

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