A new report from the Senate Finance Committee alleges that drug company GlaxoSmithKline not only knew about a possible link between their diabetes medication Avandia and heart attacks, but also acted to keep the FDA from pulling the drug off shelves. If so, how were they able to do it? [More]
drugs
Counterfeit Alli Won't Cause Runs, Might Raise Blood Pressure
By 1.19.10
The Food and Drug Administration has warned shoppers to be on the lookout for counterfeit versions of the weight-loss drug Alli. The real version of Alli contains orlistat, a drug with side effects that include “an urgent need to defecate,” as those with delicate sensibilities like to put it. The fakes are made with sibutramine, a controlled substance that has been linked to high blood pressure in some studies. [More]
Girl "Grows Back Face" After Pain Relief Pill Made It Turn Black And Fall Off
By 1.13.10
19-year old Eva Uhlin has regrown her face, chest, arms, back and stomach. A rare reaction to a couple pills of pain reliever acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol, caused her to develop Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, and large parts of her skin turned black and fell off. [More]
Printer Ink Costs More Than GHB
By 1.11.10
Dang, what doesn’t printer ink cost more than? If you answered “Thailand cobra venom,” you are correct! [More]
Sonic Manager Arrested For Cooking Meth At Work
By 12.15.09
Last week, police arrested a shift manager at a Sonic in Cape Girardeau, MO–it’s about halfway between St. Louis and Memphis, TN–after they found him with a big pile of meth supplies in the restaurant. According to Slashfood, he’d come back after the place was closed and tripped the burglar alarm. When police showed up at 1:57 AM they found the man in his Sonic uniform “allegedly attempting to whip up a batch of meth.” [More]
New Study Suggests Drug Ads Ineffective, But Expensive For Consumers
By 11.30.09
Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver looked at sales figures and prices for the blood thinner Plavix after direct-to-consumer advertising started in 2001. What they found was that the campaign was largely ineffective at increasing prescribing rates, but that the price of the drug shot up 12% almost immediately to cover the cost of the marketing campaign. [More]
Will This Vaccine Cure Smoking?
By 11.24.09
Meet NicVax, the opposite of the cool kids at the bus stop in 7th grade who got you to try a cigarette for the first time. [More]
Target Pays New Jersey $375K To Settle Fraud Charges
By 11.10.09
Target has agreed to pay New Jersey $375,000 to settle charges that it sold baby formula and non-prescription drugs that had expired, and that it charged higher prices on some products than what was displayed on the shelves.
Brooke Shields Has Hypotrichosis
By 10.27.09
Oh no! Brooke Shields used to have stringy, stick-figure eyelashes! I figured this out after watching Consumer Reports’ video dissection of a new commercial for Latisse, the glaucoma medication that has been rebranded as an expensive, temporary eyelash enhancer with side effects.
Excreted Tamiflu Found In Rivers; Flu-Resistant Superbirds Coming Soon
By 10.2.09
You know all that delicious Tamiflu we humans have been taking in order to reduce our suffering as various strains of regular, swine, and bird flu fly around the globe? Yeah, um, turns out that it doesn’t break down in our bodies and can’t be removed by water treatment plants. The combination of Tamiflu-polluted waters and wild birds may result in resistant strains of avian flu.
Grandmother Arrested For Buying Cold Medicine Twice In One Week
By 9.29.09
Last March, Sally Harpold bought a box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband, then a few days later bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her grown daughter. That put her over the limit for how much pseudoephedrine-laced cold meds you can buy in a week in her small Indiana town, so she was arrested along with 16 other potential meth makers earlier this month.
What's In Your Herbal Remedies and Supplements?
By 9.8.09
In the wake of FDA warnings about steroids in nutritional supplements, federal officials are studying ways to improve safety in dietary supplements. Mean time, we’ve got a few consumer tips for those of you who take supplements, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal:
Got Side Effects From Drugs? Report Them To the FDA
By 9.8.09
Over the past few years, the numbers of recalled pharmaceuticals has grown as new drugs are rushed to market before their safety is proven. Want to help improve drug safety? If you experience any serious side-effects from pharmaceutical or suspect drug interactions be sure to report these instances to the FDA. Here’s how:
Lexapro's Marketing Plan Shows How Drug Maker Pushes New Drugs
By 9.3.09
The Senate just released 88 pages of a confidential 270+ page marketing plan by Forest Laboratories, created in 2004 and focused on how to get doctors to prescribe the antidepressant Lexapro over similar but cheaper alternatives such as Celexa. The New York Times notes that the line between marketing and education seems to be heavily blurred, which may not surprise you. There are, however, two interesting notes for consumers who may be taking Lexapro.
Why Are Placebos Getting More Effective?
By 9.2.09
Wired Magazine reports that drug companies’ are facing a new obstacle in clinical trials: over the past few decades, the placebo response has gotten stronger. Some drugs, like Prozac, would have had trouble getting FDA approval if their effectiveness against placebos were as insignificant as tests now show.
This California K.F.C. Sells Marijuana Instead Of Chicken
By 8.28.09
We just love obvious conversions of former fast food restaurants, but this has to be the best one we’ve ever seen. A former Kentucky Fried Chicken has been replaced with “Kind For Cures,” a marijuana dispensary, says LA Weekly.
CVS Will Automatically Refill Your Prescription, Consent Be Damned
By 8.10.09
CVS pharmacies apparently don’t need consent to enroll customers in ReadyFill, a program that signs customers up for the maximum allowable number of prescription refills and then robocalls them when their drugs are ready. According to a veteran pharmacist, the automatic enrollments began after CVS’ corporate office set specific performance targets that would affect bonuses for managers and pharmacists. Inside, the pharmacist tells us what ReadyFill is, how it works, and how to escape those annoying robocalls…
