Monthly Archives: March 2012

Giving patients a shot of adrenaline to jolt their hearts back to beating after cardiac arrest can help save lives, but it could cause damage to the brain in the long term, according to a new study published in the ... Read More

Boehringer Ingelheim’s anti-clotting drug Pradaxa has been widely hailed in the medical community as a long-anticipated alternative to the 54-year-old drug warfarin, but recent studies confirm the newcomer drug may put patients at higher risk of heart attack and other ... Read More

Johnson & Johnson claims that it adhered to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines when it marketed its Gynecare Prolift vaginal mesh for three years without the agency’s approval. ... Read More

The national outrage over chemically treated meat scraps dubbed “pink slime” and sold to unsuspecting consumers as ground beef started with a disapproving email written by a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) microbiologist to a colleague. ... Read More

The drug patent for the antidepressant Lexapro expired in March 2012, paving the way for competitors to sell generic versions. Lexapro is in a class of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), one of the most prescribed medications ... Read More

Johnson & Johnson sold a surgical mesh device used in pelvic floor surgeries for three years before it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Now, more than 550 women have filed lawsuits against the company claiming they were ... Read More

The patent for the type 2 diabetes drug Actos (pioglitazone) expired in January 2011, but the drug’s maker, Takeda, made a deal with Ranbaxy Watson and Mylan not to market generic versions of the drug until August 2012. All other ... Read More

Susanna Derham, a resident of Surrey, England, was just 34 years old when she was implanted with an all-metal hip made by DePuy Orthopaedics. Her natural hip had plagued her with arthritis for years, so receiving a sturdy, state-of-the-art metal ... Read More

A new algorithm developed by researchers to search through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) enormous and complex record of drug interaction data reveals what can happen when patients take prescription drugs in combination. ... Read More

Toyota can’t force arbitration of economic-loss claims filed by plaintiffs who allege the carmaker’s sudden-unintended-acceleration defects led to diminished market value for their vehicles, U.S. District judge James Selna has ruled. ... Read More