Blood clots that develop in the large veins of the calf can kill if they break off and travel up to the heart. That’s what is called a pulmonary embolism, the killer of some 100,000 Americans every year. Now there’s evidence that statin drugs for lowering cholesterol, and thereby preventing clogging of the arteries in….
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What’s Your “Real Age”? Filling Out an On-Line Questionnaire Will Tell Drug Companies All About You
Never underestimate the ingenuity of the pharmaceutical industry in promoting its products to the American public. The latest example: The “Real Age” questionnaire that millions of people have filled out on the Internet, to tell them if their “real age,” based on lifestyle and family history, is younger or older than their chronological age. It….
Continue ReadingPatients Win, Drug Industry Loses, in Safety Case before Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a strong push by the pharmaceutical industry to win immunity from lawsuits filed by injured plaintiffs. In a 6-3 decision in the case of Wyeth v. Levine, the Supreme Court ruled that the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a drug’s label does not mean that the manufacturer has….
Continue ReadingBeware of “Natural” Weight-Loss Supplements Tainted with Potent Drugs
In a recent initiative against contaminated weight-loss products, the FDA finds 69 drugs to be contaminated with prescription drugs and chemicals, and expects the list of brands to grow even longer in the next few weeks, reports Natasha Singer of the New York Times. A complete list of the tainted drugs found so far is….
Continue ReadingSeroquel’s Manufacturer Knew Drug Could Cause Diabetes
Seroquel is an atypical antipsychotic drug used to treat mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. But patients who take Seroquel are 70% more likely to become diabetic than those who don’t take this drug, a risk that the drug manufacturer AstraZeneca was aware of as early as 2000. Joe Schneider and Margaret C…..
Continue ReadingPsychiatrists’ Conflicts of Interest Taint Drug Recommendations for Kids
Nearly every week, we hear more evidence that American children are over-medicated, especially with drugs that affect mood and behavior. Most recently, a panel of experts has denounced the overuse of Risperdal, a powerful antipsychotic drug, for attention deficit disorder. The drug has too many side effects, including potential development of permanent muscle twitching, to….
Continue ReadingStatins in Every Medicine Cabinet? Patients Need to Read the Numbers
Millions of people with normal cholesterol levels in their blood could be started on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs based on a new research study, but if patients understood the numbers behind the study, they might not move so fast to put statins in their medicine cabinet. Every patient can benefit from a closer understanding of how….
Continue ReadingDeaths and Injuries from Prescription Drugs Reach Record Levels
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a watchdog group, points out that the number of deaths (4,825) and injuries (21,000) from prescription drugs have reached record levels in the first quarter of this year, representing nearly triple the number of deaths in the last quarter. The blood thinner heparin and the anti-smoking drug varenicline are….
Continue ReadingReview: Mainstream Media Doesn’t Report Connections Between Drug Manufacturers and Pharmaceutical Studies
We have all looked at the newspaper and noted with interest that some new drug cures 75% of the people who take it. Some of us may have even based our medical decisions around information acquired in this way, maybe by going to the doctor and asking for that particular drug. Unfortunately, the study that….
Continue ReadingThe Biggest Risks You Face in the Hospital
Forbes Magazine has an informative article on the frequency of hospitals making mistakes while caring for patients, pointing out that 1.5 million Americans fall victim to such errors every single year. Some of these errors occur through sheer carelessness: for example, 100,000 people a year die from “superbugs,” bacteria that are resistant to available antibiotics…..
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