Bayer AG, maker of Yasmin birth control pills, has paid more than $402 million to settle nearly 1,900 lawsuits in the U.S., the company told stockholders. Bayer also reported that it has doubled its reserve to $610.5 million to settle future cases. The settled lawsuits were filed over claims that Yasmin and Yaz contraceptives caused…
DetailsThe Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on the makers of supposedly “all-natural” dietary supplements because many of them are laced with prescription drugs. In a new analysis by Consumer Reports, “Vitamins and Supplements: 10 Dangers That May Surprise You,” the most frequent violators are makers of supplements aimed to enhance male sexual…
DetailsFDA report: Surgical Mesh for Treatment of Women with Pelvic Organ Prolapse and Stress Urinary Incontinence
You might think that it’s safer to use a tanning bed than bake yourself out in the sun. In some respects, it is … but indoor tanning isn’t entirely without its own risks. Experts say melanoma is on the rise, particularly for those under 35 who do their tanning indoors. There’s a 20 percent increased…
DetailsDriver error is cited more frequently in fatal crashes involving passenger vehicles than commercial trucks, according to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. The newest statistics, culled from driver-related factors in police accident reports during 2010, show about one-third of truck drivers involved in fatal crashes were cited, compared…
DetailsParents and guardians are being cautioned of the risks of giving prescribed codeine to children after surgeries. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says three children died and another suffered a non-fatal but life-threatening case of respiratory depression, all after being given codeine as a pain reliever after surgeries to remove tonsils and/or adenoids. The…
DetailsFor five of the past six seasons, attendance at NCAA football games has broken records. Nearly 49.7 million attended college football games last year, according to the NCAA, which doesn’t include the 127 million who watched TV games. What the audience and, most importantly, the players themselves aren’t aware of is the potentially devastating long-term…
DetailsOlder adults use more medicines than younger people and also tend to experience more serious side effects, including death. Yet drug makers often exclude older adults from clinical trials, according to the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen. In particular, a new analysis of four popular medications often taken by older adults – rosuvastatin (Crestor) for…
DetailsA new analysis concluded that many of the reports that are conducted on new drugs and medical devices come from studies conducted on a small number of patients in clinical trials with less-than-reliable methods and, often, missing data! Dr. Robert Califf of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute in Durham, N.C., told Reuters Health that these…
DetailsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration isn’t doing a very good job of tracking drugs once they’re on the market to see if they’re safe, according to the Institute of Medicine, a government watchdog group. Some drugs are put on the market despite evidence that they might have bad side effects, the IOM said, and…
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