Category Archives: Prescription Drug Claims

Study Reveals More Deaths By Poisoning Than Car Crashes

Written On January 9, 2012 By Bob Kraft

Here’s a story that took me by surprise — deaths by poisoning have overtaken deaths by auto collision in the United States. The latest statistics are from 2008, and were reported by the National Center for Health Statistics. The report was detailed in an article in the New York Times. Here are excerpts:
An analysis published [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices, Vehicle Law or News

Addictive Painkiller Zohydro Feared to be Next OxyContin

Written On January 2, 2012 By Bob Kraft

This story is alarming to those of us who have had patients or friends who were addicted to painkillers. There are new medications coming out that are possibly stronger than today’s Vicodin. Here are details from an article at NewJerseyNewsroom:
According to federal figures, treatments for the abuse of prescription painkillers has risen 430 percent over [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

F.D.A. Revokes Approval of Avastin for Use as Breast Cancer Drug

Written On November 22, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The prescription drug Avastin, produced by Genentech, has been pulled from the market by the Food and Drug Administration. But only for treatment of breast cancer. the drug will still be available for treatment of other medical problems. the FDA has essentially said the drug’s side effects, including death, outweigh any potential benefits. This story [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Health Insurance Carrier Removes Coverage for Avastin Breast Cancer Drug

Written On November 10, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The New York Times reported, “Blue Shield of California will no longer pay for the use of the drug Avastin to treat breast cancer, a sign that support for the widely debated and expensive treatment may be eroding among health plans.” The Times notes, “Blue Shield, with 3.2 million members, is apparently the first large insurance [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

New Study Says Chantix Raises Suicide Risks

Written On November 9, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The quit-smoking drug Chantix (varenicline), has had a reputation of causing serious side-effects, including suicidal thoughts. Now, according to Reuters, a new study seems to confirm these suspicions. Here are excerpts from the story:
Pfizer’s smoking cessation drug Chantix carries too many risks and should only be tried when other treatments fail, researchers said.
Chantix was eight [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Study Suggests NSAIDs Raise Risk of Miscarriage

Written On September 21, 2011 By Bob Kraft

ABC World News reported in one of its “healthy living,” segments that “some over the counter painkillers are a risk to pregnant women and their unborn children, doubling the risk of miscarriage.” ABC explained, “This is a study out of Canada that looked at 4,700 women that had a miscarriage, and they compared those to [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

NIH Finishes Conflict of Interest Rules

Written On September 8, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Washington Post reports that “the National Institutes of Health has finalized rules to reduce financial conflicts of interests among federally funded researchers who also receive payments or stock from drug and medical device companies.” New regulations state that if a researcher receives at least $5,000 from a drug or device company they must disclose [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Prescription Drug Claims

Public Citizen Seeks Black Box Warnings on Acid Reflux Drugs

Written On September 6, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Los Angeles Times reported in its “Booster Shots” blog, “The watchdog group Public Citizen on Tuesday asked the US Food and Drug Administration to warn Americans that” proton-pump inhibitors, intended to combat acid reflux and heartburn, under the brands Nexium, Prilosec, Zegerid and Prevacid, “can be habit-forming and carry a wide range of other [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Deal Reached on Inspecting Foreign-Made Drug Ingredients

Written On August 16, 2011 By Bob Kraft

A front-page New York Times story reported, “More than 80 percent of the active ingredients for drugs sold in the United States are made abroad,” often in rarely inspected plants in China or India. “But after decades of failed attempts, the federal government and the generic drug industry have reached an agreement that is almost certain [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Acetaminophen Dosage Levels to be Reduced on Product Labeling

Written On August 2, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The AP reported, Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division announced Thursday it is “reducing the maximum daily dose of its Extra Strength Tylenol pain reliever to lower risk of accidental overdose from acetaminophen,” which is the “top cause of liver failure.”
According to Dow Jones Newswire the change affects Extra Strength Tylenol sold in the [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Doctors Writing Fewer Prescriptions for Abbott Cholesterol Drug Niaspan

Written On July 27, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The cholesteraol drug Niaspan has been a popular one for Abbott Laboratories, but it’s getting some bad publicity these days. A good summary of the problems was reported by the Chicago Tribune recently. Here are excerpts from the article:
Fewer doctors are prescribing Abbott Laboratories’ drug to raise so-called good cholesterol levels in the wake of [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

FDA Advisory Panels Reject Experimental Diabetes Treatment

Written On July 26, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The New York Times reports that a Food and Drug Administration panel “voted 9 to 6 on Tuesday that a first-of-its-kind diabetes drug should not be approved for use because of safety concerns, including a possible increased risk of breast and bladder cancers.”
The AP notes that the drug, dapagliflozin, is a “once-a-day pill designed to [...]

Posted in Diabetes, Prescription Drug Claims

Seroquel Antipsychotic Drug to Carry New Heart Warning

Written On July 21, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The New York Times reports that “AstraZeneca is adding a new heart warning to the labels of Seroquel [quetiapine], its blockbuster antipsychotic drug, at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, company and agency officials said on Monday.” The new “label, posted without fanfare last week on the FDA website, says Seroquel and extended-release [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Editorial: Supreme Court Ruling Leaves Generic Drug Consumers Vulnerable

Written On July 11, 2011 By Bob Kraft

I wrote recently about the dangers of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that manufacturers of generic drugs owe no duty to warn consumers of harmful side effects. Now an editorial in the Baltimore Sun expands on that view. Here are excerpts:
In its recent decision on drug labeling, the U.S. Supreme Court prescribed a judgment that [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Study Links Anti-Smoking Drug Chantix to Cardiovascular Problems

Written On July 7, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The anti-smoking drug Chantix has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. Now here is one more blow to the drug’s reputation — it may cause an increased risk of heart attack or stroke. The problem was summarized in a recent New York Times article. Here are exerpts:
Chantix, the best-selling prescription drug [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

L.A. Times Says Generic Drug Ruling Unfair to Consumers

Written On June 30, 2011 By Bob Kraft

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post about the Supreme Court ruling that manufacturers of generic drugs have no duty to warn consumers of harmful side effects, here are excerpts from an editorial in the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper laments the fact that these manufacturers are being let off the hook, and says they have [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Supreme Court Rules Generic Drugmakers Are Shielded from Failure to Warn Suits

Written On June 29, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Washington Post reported, “Makers of generic drugs cannot be sued for not warning patients of the drugs’ dangerous side effects, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, even though brand-name manufacturers can be found liable.” The Post continued, “A five-member majority of the court recognized that it ‘makes little sense’ to bar suits against generic drug-makers [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Strange Bedfellows — Pharmaceutical Companies and Fancy Restaurants

Written On June 23, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Boston Globe ran an interesting article last week detailing how expensive restaurants have banded together to fight for repeal or amendment of a 2008 Massachusetts law banning pharmaceutical companies from giving gifts of $50 or more to doctors. The restaurants say this ban is hurting their business, because the pharmaceutical companies frequently bought expensive [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Political and/or Judicial, Prescription Drug Claims

FDA Says Chantix May Slightly Increase Risk of Heart Attack

Written On June 22, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The AP reports, “Federal health regulators are warning doctors and patients that Pfizer’s anti-smoking drug Chantix [varenicline] may slightly increase the risk of heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.” On Thursday, the FDA “said…a study of 700-heart disease patients taking Chantix showed a small uptick in heart problems among those taking the smoking-cessation drug versus [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Cholesterol Drug Zocor Can Increase Risk of Muscle Damage

Written On June 14, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Simvastatin (marketed as Zocor; also an ingredient in Vytorin and Simcor) is a cholesterol-lowering drug. Merck obtained approval by the FDA in 1991 and it was their largest selling drug prior to the loss of patent protection in early 2006. Zocor was also the second largest selling cholesterol-lowering drug in the world. [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims