U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff have sent word to agency advisers meeting this week that there should be more and consistent tests to study the effect of metal in hip implants on surrounding body tissue. The staff said these tests might help lower high failure rates on implants made by Johnson & Johnson and…
DetailsAs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration prepares to examine how safe metal-on-metal hip implants are, the agency released a report saying it received more than 16,800 reports of adverse events associated with the devices from 2000-2011. Complaints increased after Johnson & Johnson began recalling its ASR hip implants in 2010, according to Bloomberg News. More…
DetailsA British manufacturer of a metal-on-metal component for an artificial hip has voluntarily withdrawn the metal liner (or cup) from the market, as some patients were forced to have the liner removed after complaining of infections, fractures and dislocations. The liner was part of Smith & Nephew’s R3 Acetabular System. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, about…
DetailsLast year, the FDA received nearly 180,000 reports of serious, disabling, and fatal adverse drug events in the United States – most of them through drug makers – that affected up to 4 million Americans, which makes an industry watchdog group wonder if anybody out there cares. “In fact, the 2011 data illustrate that many…
DetailsWe love our cars. They get us everywhere we need to go in relative comfort. In return, we wash them, wax them, regularly change the oil, and keep them well-fueled. But when is the last time you checked the air in your tires? According to a recent survey by AAA Arizona and the Rubber Manufacturers…
DetailsThere’s nothing wrong with working out and watching your diet to make yourself healthier, but attempting to speed up the process of weight loss or muscle building by taking over-the-counter dietary or herbal supplements may actually cause life-threatening liver injury. It might surprise you to know that one of the primary reasons that medications are…
DetailsCount yourself lucky if you’re NOT one of the estimated 50 million Americans who have allergies of some sort. Seasonal allergies send many people to the neighborhood pharmacy for relief in the form of an over-the-counter medication. The most common OTC medicine allergy sufferers seek is an antihistamine, which blocks the release of histamine that…
DetailsThe 2012 Annual Meeting of the American association of Orthopedic Surgeons was held in February in San Francisco. Two of the studies presented addressed the use of bisphosphonates and atypical femur fractures. One looked at outcomes in patients who had sustained atypical femur fractures and the other addressed whether discontinuing bisphosphonate treatment decreased the risk…
DetailsThe Food and Drug Administration is reminding owners of automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) to check whether their devices are subject to a Jaunary recall. Certain AEDs contain a defective component that could cause the AED to not delvier defibrillation. Because of the seriousness of this issue the agency has classified this recall as class I,…
DetailsBased on a recently completed safety review, the FDA has concluded that birth control pills containing drospirenone (a synthetic version of the female hormone progesterone, also known as progestin) may be associated with a higher risk for blood clots than other progestin-containing pills. The FDA is adding information about the studies to the labels of…
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