Archive for June, 2008

New Warning Labels for Epilepsy Drugs Coming Soon

The FDA is preparing to put warning labels on epilepsy drugs that will notify users about the increased risk for suicidal behavior.
“Everything points in the direction of an increase in what we call suicidality,” said Dr. Russell Katz, director of the FDA’s neuropharmacological drug division in a Katz said in a June 6 Wall Street [...]

More Bad Drug News in the NFL

According to ESPN.com, a convicted steroids dealer who recently met with NFL security officials and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him was found dead in his home in Plano, Texas on June 5.
Plano police made a welfare check and found 35-year-old David Jacobs and 30-year-old Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell dead. Both [...]

Oxycodone Takes Another One Down

Another athlete has fallen victim to prescription drug addiction. Starting New England Patriots offensive lineman Nicholas Kaczur was arrested in April on a charge of illegal possession of prescription painkillers. Following his arrest, Kaczur secretly cooperated with the DEA in a sting operation that resulted in the indictment of his alleged drug supplier. According to [...]

Death In The Mail

The problem with ordering prescription drugs from online pharmacies, is that you have no idea what you’re getting. Just ask the woman from this recent CNN Health article.
“Every night before her husband went to bed, he would open a prescription bottle of the muscle relaxant Soma and swallow the eight or nine pills it took [...]

Recent New Drug Applications

Here are the most recent drug applications submitted to the FDA for approval. I always find it interesting to see what’s coming our way.

Sancuso (granisetron) Transdermal Patch Company: ProStrakan Group; Treatment for: Nausea/Vomiting – Chemotherapy Induced. Sancuso (granisetron) is an anti-emetic transdermal delivery system in development for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting without [...]

Cloretazine Shows Some Promising Results

Vion Pharmaceuticals announced the interim data results of its pivotal phase II trial of cloretazine, an anticancer agent drug that is intended to treat elderly patients with de novo poor-risk acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) today. 35 percent of the 85 patients evaluated in the study responded to the drug treatment, and 90 percent of those [...]

A Little Scary…

On May 27, the FDA alerted consumers and healthcare professionals not to buy or use Xiadafil VIP Tablets sold in bottles of 8 tablets or blister cards of 2 tablets. The product is marketed as a dietary supplement and is promoted and sold over the internet for sexual enhancement and to treat erectile dysfunction.
“The product [...]

Blogging About Alzheimers

Patients diagnosed with early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are speaking out and demanding more attention, according to an article in today’s New York Times. Some patients – like 52-year-old Kris Bakowski of Athens, Ga. – are even blogging about their personal experience. Bakowski’s blog Creating Memories documents her daily struggles and successes with the disease.
There [...]

Bill Maher On Prescription Drugs

Bill Maher

Bill Maher – one of my very favorite comedians – pokes fun at our over-dependency on prescription drugs in his stand-up routine “The Decider.” I like how Maher says we “come up with the pill before the disease.” Sometimes it certainly seems that way!

Baby Steps for Lung Cancer Patients

I don’t want people to get the idea that I am opposed to prescription drugs and medicine. I firmly believe that there are drugs out there that have done wonders for the human race – and I think it’s amazing that there are people out there creating these wonder-meds… so I figure I should be [...]