Category Archives: Prescription Drug Claims

Pfizer Accused of Under-Reporting Side Effects of Chantix Smoking-Cessation Drug

Written On June 7, 2011 By Bob Kraft

ABC News reports that a new analysis by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices “says that there were 150 instances” where users of the smoking-cessation drug Chantix committed suicide “out of the nearly 600 delayed reports of severe issues noted in the study.” So the FDA “wants the drug maker to resubmit thousands of records [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Drug Marketing Often Targets Medical Students

Written On June 1, 2011 By Bob Kraft

An article in HealthDay recently raised a concern about the frequency with which medical students in this country are wooed and even paid by drug manufacturers. The threat implied in the article is that when the medical students become physicians they will owe “allegiance” to the drug companies, and that could be detrimental to their [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Avandia Will Be Pulled From Retail Pharmacy Shelves In November

Written On May 24, 2011 By Bob Kraft

USA Today reports, “The diabetes drug Avandia [rosiglitazone] will be pulled from retail pharmacy shelves in November because it poses such a big heart attack risk, the federal government announced Tuesday.” Beginning Nov. 18, “the FDA will limit the drug’s use to patients who have already been safely treated with it, those whose blood sugar [...]

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Prescription Side Effects Causing More Hospitalizations

Written On May 23, 2011 By Bob Kraft

According to the American Medical Association, in an article on their Web site, painkillers are among the top medications sending patients to hospitals. Here are excerpts:
The number of hospitalizations due to medication side effects jumped by more than half between 2004 and 2008, says a federal report that heightened concerns about polypharmacy among an aging U.S. [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Prescription Drug Claims

Office of National Drug Control Policy Says Congress Should Mandate Painkiller Safety Training

Written On April 25, 2011 By Bob Kraft

USA Today reports, “To halt prescription drug abuse, the nation’s fast-growing drug problem, Congress must require special training for doctors and other health care workers before they are allowed to prescribe powerful drugs such as OxyContin,” ONDCP Director Gil Kerlikowske said Tuesday.
The Wall Street Journal reports the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Topamax Warning – Increased Risk of Cleft Palate in Newborns

Written On April 11, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Topamax is a prescription drug originally approved by the FDA in 1996 to treat epilepsy.The generic name is topiramate. Topamax is manufactured by Ortho-McNeil Neurologics, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
The FDA approved Topamax for use to treat migraines in 2004 and it is often prescribed off-label for bi-polar disorder.
In March 2011 the FDA warned that an [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

FDA Orders Unapproved Cold Drugs Off the Market

Written On March 7, 2011 By Bob Kraft

A story about the Food and Drug Administration pulling hundreds of cold and cough medicines from the market garnered extensive print media coverage, but only one network television station mentioned it. Many of the sources indicated that this action would have minimal or no impact on most consumers. The CBS Evening News (3/2, story 7, [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Prescription Drug Claims

Supreme Court Ruling Protects Vaccine Makers from Lawsuits

Written On February 28, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Print media widely covered the Supreme Court ruling in a case which sought to hold a drug maker liable for the side effects of a childhood vaccine. Most sources considered the Court’s decision a victory for vaccine makers.
The Los Angeles Times reported, “The Supreme Court on Tuesday shielded the nation’s vaccine makers from being sued [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Parents Continue to Give Cough and Cold Medicines to Infants Despite FDA Warnings

Written On February 24, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Los Angeles Times ran an article last week reporting that dire warnings from the food and Drug Administration have not stopped parents from giving potentially dangerous cough and cold medicines to infants. Here are excerpts:
More than half of parents continue to give over-the-counter cough and cold medicines to children under the age of 2, [...]

Posted in Consumer Information, Prescription Drug Claims

Combined Avastin, Chemotherapy Treatment Linked to Higher Death Risk

Written On February 3, 2011 By Bob Kraft

USA Today reports, cancer patients treated with a combination of the angiogenesis inhibitor Avastin [bevacizumab] and chemotherapy are “50-percent more likely to die from their treatment rather than their disease,” according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
According to Bloomberg News, “Deadly side effects occurred in 2.5 percent of patients given [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

FDA to Curb Consumption of Acetaminophen in Prescription Painkillers

Written On January 18, 2011 By Bob Kraft

ABC World News reported, “The FDA launched a major crackdown against the overuse of one of the most popular painkillers on the market, acetaminophen.”
Bloomberg News reports, “Prescription pain pills may contain no more than 325 milligrams of acetaminophen as of Jan. 14, 2014, the Food and Drug Administration said.” The medicines “also will carry a [...]

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Johnson & Johnson Tagged for “Phantom Recall” of Defective Motrin

Written On January 14, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The New York Times reports, “An effort by Johnson & Johnson to buy back defective Motrin pills from store shelves — described as a ‘phantom recall’ by some members of Congress — has come under fire in a lawsuit filed by the state of Oregon against the company.” A Johnson & Johnson unit, McNeil Consumer [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Certain Painkillers Linked to Increased Risk for Heart Attack and Stroke

Written On January 13, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Bloomberg News reports, “Commonly prescribed medicines that ease pain by fighting inflammation have been linked to increased risk heart attack and stroke,” according to an analysis published online Jan. 11 in the British Medical Journal.
The CNN “The Chart” blog reported, “Supporting previous research on the subject, a large meta-analysis of 31 studies has found significant [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Investigation Charges Vaccine-Autism Link Was Fabricated

Written On January 11, 2011 By Bob Kraft

ABC World News reported that many parents “know that vaccines protection their children from serious illness. But many still fear that the vaccines might cause autism because of all of the reports through the years.” Now, there is “new outrage over the doctor who first reported a link.”
USA Today reports, “An infamous 1998 study that [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Avastin May Increase Heart Failure Risk in Women with Breast Cancer

Written On January 6, 2011 By Bob Kraft

According to Reuters, Avastin remains a point of contention on Capitol Hill and in the medical community. While some lawmakers and physicians are displeased with the FDA proposal to block breast cancer patients’ access to the drug, four clinical trials showed that it did not extend survival. Now, research coming out of Harvard and the [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Drug Maker Mylan Agrees to Settle Medicaid Case for $65 Million

Written On December 31, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The  drug maker Mylan Inc. has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought against it by both the U.S. government and the State of Texas. The suit alleges that Mylan artificially inflated prescription drug prices, causing Medicaid to pay the company far more money than should have been reasonable. Mylan will pay $65 million under the [...]

Posted in Medicaid, Prescription Drug Claims

Med Schools Flunk at Keeping Faculty Off Pharmaceutical Speaking Circuit

Written On December 29, 2010 By Bob Kraft

I’ve written several times about pharmaceutical companies paying doctors to shill for them. Speak-for-fee has gotten enough bad publicity recently that fewer doctors are accepting money from the drug companies to tout certain medications.
But, as a lengthy article at the ProPublica site details, medical schools are falling behind physicians in general in reining in this [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Darvon and Darvocet Painkillers Pulled From U.S. Market

Written On December 20, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals Inc., the manufacturer of the painkillers Darvon and Darvocet has agreed to stop marketing those drugs in the Untied State. A new study has linked Darvon and Darvocet to serious and sometimes fatal heart rhythm abnormalities.
This action was taken at the request of the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA also asked makers of generic [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Doctors Disciplined by Texas Medical Board Still Earn Money from Drug Firms

Written On December 13, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The drug companies never cease to amaze me. When they can’t find reputable doctors to tout their products, they hire doctors who have been disciplined by the Texas Medical Board. This behavior was documented in a recent article in the Dallas Morning News. You should read the entire article, but here are excerpts:
The 33-year-old woman [...]

Posted in Prescription Drug Claims

Patient Care Compromised by Drug Makers’ Price Inflation Scheme

Written On December 9, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The AP (12/7, Caldwell) reported Abbot Laboratories Inc., B. Braun Medical Inc., and Roxane Laboratories Inc. “agreed to pay more than $421 million to settle allegations that the companies reported inflated prices for numerous products,” according to the Justice Department. Assistant Attorney General Tony West said the companies “inflated the average wholesale price for dozens [...]

Posted in Medicaid, Medicare, Prescription Drug Claims, Product Liability or Medical Devices