Asbury Park Press: "Persistent questions about the safety of both prescription and over-the-counter drugs, a menacing microbe spreading throughout the United States and a globe-trotting TB patient all garnered headlines this past year. A look back at the top health stories of 2007:"
TheStar.com "A man is at a downtown loft party. He knows he shouldn't be there, but a friend convinced him it would be a good time, one not to miss.
The music, the short skirts and familiar faces set off an urge he has been fighting for six months. It's been that long since he last cut cocaine. And he swore to stay clean.
But tonight, the pull is too strong. In a bathroom, after a quick exchange, he gets his fix."
Los Angeles Times: "WASHINGTON -- The government issued a new safety warning Friday for a skin patch containing a potent painkiller that has been implicated in hundreds of deaths, saying the patch poses unique risks that doctors and patients often fail to understand.
The Food and Drug Administration said the widely used fentanyl patch was being wrongly prescribed by doctors and being misused by patients unaware that something as routine as taking a hot shower while wearing the patch could trigger a potentially fatal overdose."
Gradual dose reduction (also know as tapering) will alleviate symptoms for most people. http://www.encognitive.com
Same drug, different patent: Anyone who watches television—where the majority of the drug industry's $2.5 billion [that figure is now $20+ billion in 2007] a-year-and-growing advertising budget is spent—has seen commercials for AstraZeneca's acid-reflux drug Nexium®. The ad money worked: Consumers spent $458 million on Nexium, at an average cost of $117 per prescription in 2001, the first year it was introduced......
Bloomberg.com: : "GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Tykerb reduced breast cancer stem cells in one study, helping eliminate the disease in some patients. In a second trial, it shrank tumors that had spread to the brain when used with another treatment.
The two reports, presented yesterday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in Texas, may help Glaxo, the world's second-biggest drugmaker, increase its share of the $47 billion global cancer market dominated by Roche Holding AG and Genentech Inc. Tykerb, approved in the U.S. in March and in Europe on Dec. 14, works in patients with the HER-2 gene, which makes the disease more aggressive in as many as 30 percent of patients."
FOXNews.com - FDA: Spermicide Does Not Protect Against STDs, AIDS - Health News Current Health News Medical News: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said this week it will require manufacturers of over-the-counter vaginal contraceptive and spermicidal products to include a warning that they do not provide protection against HIV infection or other sexually transmitted diseases.
Over-the-counter spermicides include gels, foams, films, or inserts containing the chemical ingredient nonoxynol 9."
Wyoming Tribune: "CHEYENNE - Cold and flu season can bring dangers that are less than obvious.
Many people may not know that commonly prescribed medications can interact with over-the-counter drugs to make them sicker."
New Strategy To Cut Heart Attack Risk Is Effective In Initial Test: "The first clinical trial of a new kind of drug to cut the risk of cardiovascular disease has been found safe and effective at dropping levels of 'bad' low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol by as much as 40 percent. High LDL levels increase the risk for heart attack and stroke."
Medical News: "Treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors with sunitinib (Sutent) led to cardiac events in 11% of patients and to clinically relevant reductions in ejection fraction in almost 30%, investigators found."
healthcentral.com: "High-dose chemotherapy has only a minimal effect on survival in breast cancer patients with node-positive disease, new research shows.
'It's pretty clearly established that [high-dose chemotherapy] is a false hope,' said study author Donald Berry, head of the Division of Quantitative Sciences at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. 'There's a disease-free survival benefit but not much of a survival benefit. There may be a subset which would benefit, but we looked and couldn't find it.'"
CNBC.com: "LONDON - Following reports of depression and suicide in patients taking the anti-smoking drug Champix, the European Union's medicine authority has begun investigating its safety.
On Friday, the European Medicines Agency asked Champix's maker, Pfizer Inc., to submit more information about the incidences of depression and suicide in patients taking the drug.
'Based on a preliminary review of patient reports, our committee concluded this could signal a problem,' said Monika Benstetter, a spokeswoman for the EU agency, which authorizes medicines for use in the 27-nation bloc.
Reuters: "SILVER SPRING, Maryland (Reuters) - Making a cholesterol drug available over the counter could give millions of Americans a new option to reduce the risk of heart disease and provide a major public health benefit, drugmaker Merck & Co Inc argued to a U.S. advisory panel on Thursday. The company is making its third bid for U.S. approval to sell a low-dose, nonprescription version of its Mevacor cholesterol-lowering pill. Mevacor is one of the statin drugs taken by millions to cut cholesterol and the risk of heart disease, the leading killer of Americans."
Forbes.com: "Merck & Co. has recalled 1.2 million doses of a common childhood vaccine due to potential contamination during the manufacturing process. But, the vaccine does not pose a health threat, U.S. health officials announced Wednesday. The company voluntarily recalled two lots of the Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) vaccine . Haemophilus influenzae is a group of bacteria that may cause different types of infections in infants and children. They include ear, eye, or sinus infections and pneumonia. The more serious but rare strain can cause meningitis and a life-threatening infection called epiglottitis."
Daily Express: "THOUSANDS of people suffering from two of the most common forms of cancer were given fresh hope last night. British scientists have unveiled a new drug which makes breast and prostate cancer cells “kill themselves”. The revolutionary pill – described as “very exciting” by experts stops tiny structures within the cancer cells from dividing and then triggers a natural suicide process."
Science Daily: "— Intensive care unit patients on respirators who were sedated with the drug dexmedetomidine had more days alive without delirium or coma and better sedation compared to patients treated with the recommended drug lorazepam, according to a study in the December 12 issue of JAMA."
CNN Money "New data show once-daily Exjade(R) (deferasirox) reduces life-threatening iron levels in the heart and liver in beta-thalassaemia patients. These interim results from an ongoing trial show that at, six months, approximately 78 percent of participants had decreases in cardiac iron and 90 percent of patients had decreases in hepatic iron. These results were reported at the 49th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Haematology (ASH) in Atlanta, 8-11 December 2007.(1) Chronic iron overload is a potentially life-threatening condition that results from frequent blood transfusions required to treat certain types of chronic blood disorders, including sickle cell disease (SCD), thalassaemia, and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and other anaemias. If left undiagnosed or untreated, excess iron in the body can become toxic, causing damage to the heart and liver, ultimately leading to death.(4)"
The Boston Globe: "LOS ANGELES - The widespread use of standard antibiotics to treat sinus infections does not help cure patients and may harm them by increasing their resistance to the drugs, according to a new study published yesterday. more stories like thisThe researchers found that the percentage of patients who got well in 10 days was about the same whether they took an antibiotic or a placebo. 'With a little bit of patience, the body will usually heal itself,' said Dr. Ian Williamson, a family medicine researcher at the University of Southampton in England and lead author of the paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association."
New York Times: "An independent analysis of thousands of older people with diabetes found that those treated with the widely used drug Avandia had significantly elevated risks of heart attack and death. The finding, published on Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, could rekindle the debate about whether Avandia, a controversial treatment for Type 2 diabetes, should remain on the market. Earlier studies drew similar links between Avandia and cardiac risks."
About.Com: "A new study has shown that people diagnosed with their first episode of schizophrenia fare much better when treated with newer anti-psychotic drugs than with traditional medications. The double bind study was conducted in China by American and Chinese scientists. It is the first study to directly compare treatment with clozapine (Clozaril), an 'atypical' anti-psychotic medication, with chlorpromazine (Thorazine) in people who had an episode of schizophrenia for the first time."
Bloomberg.com: U.S.: "Celgene Corp.'s Revlimid, a treatment for a deadly cancer of the bone marrow, was safer and helped patients live longer when used in combination with a lower-than- usual dose of an immune-suppressing drug. Revlimid helped 91 percent of patients newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma live at least 18 months when used with a lower dose of dexamethasone, an immune suppressor, according to a study presented at the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta today. Eighty percent of patients lived that long when a higher dose of dexamethasone was given with Revlimid, researchers said. "
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery: "In the mid-1990s, a new class of antiviral drugs known as HIV protease inhibitors revolutionized the treatment of HIV infection. Being involved in this transformation has been the best career experience for Joseph Vacca, Executive Director of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at Merck, who was the project leader and one of the co-inventors of the first-generation HIV protease inhibitor indinavir. "
WSJ.com: "Big-name pharmaceutical companies are hoping to find a new blockbuster drug in a market now dominated by one of the oldest mainstay pills in medicine: the blood thinner warfarin. At least five next-generation blood thinners are in advanced testing to treat or prevent potentially debilitating or life-threatening blood clots in surgery and heart patients. First candidates could reach the market in 2009."
FDA: Yahoo! Finance: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- Patients who suffer from heartburn are not at increased risk for heart problems as a result of taking Prilosec or Nexium, according to a review released Monday by the Food and Drug Administration. ADVERTISEMENT The FDA and its Canadian counterpart began reviewing the drugs, used by tens of millions of people, back in May. The drug's manufacturer, AstraZeneca PLC, provided them with an early analysis of two small studies that suggested the possibility of a risk. The agency said its review of that study as well as 14 others indicated no increased risk for patients."
American Chronicle: "Most sex therapists agree that low libido in women is often emotionally based and the solution is not a pharmaceutical drug. While drug companies are pouring millions of dollars into finding a chemical solution for low libido in women, a small Canadian company has pitted itself against the pharmaceutical giants with a much safer solution that uses our sense of smell."
Chico Enterprise Record "Helping seniors manage their medications was the focus of a program Nov. 30 at Oakmont Retirement in Chico. Collin Boggs, a senior care pharmacist at Walgreen's, brought information to seniors and answered their individual questions. His purpose was to ensure seniors' medications are not contributing to incontinence, falls, confusion, memory loss and/or insomnia. His talk focused on the goal of achieving and maintaining the highest level of functioning possible. Seniors have more chronic diseases and multiple conditions so they use more prescription and over-the-counter drugs. That results in a rise in of drug interactions. Seniors are often uinaware which medications to avoid when certain diseases are present, and when medicine can be harmful rather than helpful. "
Medscape: "Results of a randomized trial show alcohol-dependent patients with liver cirrhosis were able to attain alcohol abstinence at a higher rate with baclofen, an anticraving agent with a low liver metabolism, than with placebo. 'In conclusion, our results suggest that baclofen, because of its anticraving action and safety, could have an important role for treatment of alcohol-dependent patients with advanced liver disease,' the researchers, with first author Giovanni Addolorato, MD, from the Institute of Internal Medicine, Catholic University of Rome, Italy, write. 'We have shown that a pharmacological agent can promote alcohol abstinence and prevent alcohol relapse in individuals with alcoholic liver disease.' "
MedPage Today: "Selective multi-drug GI tract decontamination was a significantly more beneficial prophylaxis against yeast infections in critically ill patients than a single-drug antifungal, except against candidemia, researchers found. "
Jamaica Gleaner News Drug treatment which may be taken after sex to prevent a woman from getting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are available in Jamaica. For HIV prevention after sex, the drug cost is between $1,000 and $8,000. This HIV treatment is called HIV post exposure prophylaxis or prevention (P.E.P.). It is prescribed by a doctor for persons who have had potential exposure to HIV. The treatment involves giving a course of the regular HIV medication to the person who had a potential exposure to HIV (for example, someone who had been raped). The regular HIV medications are called antiretrovirals (ARVs) and come in various combinations, for example, efavirenz plus lamivudine plus stavudine or zidovudine plus lamivudine plus indinavir. The medication must be given immediately after the potential exposure or within 24 to 72 hours, which is about the time it takes for HIV to integrate itself into human cell DNA. The treatment is given for one month"
Scientific American: "Common drug treatments for sinus infections -- antibiotics and steroid nasal sprays -- seem to be little better than doing nothing at all, British researchers said on Tuesday. 'Wide-scale overtreatment is likely occurring' because there is no proof many of these infections are bacterial in nature, Dr. Ian Williamson of the University of Southampton and colleagues wrote in their report. Antibiotics are useless against viruses, a common cause of sinus infections, and their overuse can lead to the development of drug-resistant bacteria. The findings, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, came from a study of 240 adults with sinus infections between 2001 and 2005."
The Science Business by Matthew Herper: "These data look pretty good. Televancin met its main goal of being statistically the same as vancomycin, the standard of care, in ventilator pneumonia. This is a pretty tough illness for a new drug. It's a good sign that the cure rate comes in numerically higher for televancin, although I'd quibble with the quote in the press release from Ralph Corey of Duke University. Saying a difference is clinically meaningful when it's not statistically significant is a little misleading. We don't know for sure the difference isn't due to the play of chance."
Australian Broadcasting Corporation"The Tasmanian Government has announced a plan to combat the misuse of psychostimulant drugs. The three main classes are amphetamines, MDMA or ecstasy and cocaine. In a survey of 100 regular ecstasy users in Tasmania, almost a quarter said they used the drug every week. 37 per cent of injecting drug users said amphetamines the drug of choice, while 88 per cent had used methamphetamines in the past 12 months."
RTTNews"12/6/2007 11:49:08 AM Thursday, Pain Therapeutics, Inc. (PTIE), a biopharmaceutical company, and King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (KG), a vertically integrated pharmaceutical company, announced that the late stage study of chronic pain treatment candidate Remoxy has met the primary endpoint. Remoxy, an investigational drug, is an abuse-deterrent version of long-acting oxycodone, a powerful painkiller available only by prescription. The companies anticipate Remoxy to meet the needs of physicians or pharmacists who appropriately prescribe long-acting oxycodone and who try to minimize the risks of abuse, misuse or diversion."
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: "Medication mistakes, such as the wrong drug or the wrong dose, are happening all too often at hospitals. On average, there's at least one drug error per hospital patient per day, according to a report last year by the Institute of Medicine. Fortunately, not all patients are harmed by such mistakes, as Dennis Quaid's twins were. But mistakes can be fatal. For example, a father of three died at University of Chicago Hospitals after receiving repeated chemotherapy overdoses."
USNEWS.com: " -- A newer kind of anticlotting drug is safe over the long run when used during coronary emergencies such as heart attacks. The drug, a 'direct thrombin inhibitor' called bivalirudin, is used to keep blood flowing freely during cardiac procedures such as bypass surgery."
Broad Street Journal Online "Barbados’ Ministry of Health announced yesterday that it has suspended the marketing and sale of the prescription drug Prexige, and advised patients to immediately discontinue using it. This suspension follows similar action taken by Australia, Canada, Austria, the United Kingdom and Germany and relates to concerns expressed about liver related adverse effects, the GIS reported. The announcement came two months after Canada’s health authorities warned consumers on October 4 about potential liver-related adverse effects, including hepatitis, linked to the anti-inflammatory medicine."
AEI - Short Publications: "Most Nigerians administer their own malaria treatment. They know the symptoms and they know the time-tested remedy--chloroquine, purchased from a local pharmacy or street trader. Unfortunately, chloroquine's effectiveness has deteriorated over the years as the malaria parasite has mutated and gained resistance to the drug. Chloroquine now fails most of the time it is administered. "
Avastin to be voted by FDA for breast cancer treatment_Health--China Economic Net: "An FDA panel will meet Wednesday to vote whether Avastin, the cancer drug of Genentech, can win an additional approval as a treatment for breast cancer. Data from an Avastin study released by the FDA on Monday showed that Avastin achieved its main goal of extending the period before cancer worsens but failed to extent the overall survival. Moreover, it was already known that Avastin can cause serious side effects and even some deaths. "
The Guardian: "A clinical trial has found that honey is more effective at soothing a sore throat than a common active ingredient in children's cough medicines. Honey has been used for centuries to relieve a tickly throat and scientists now believe it may be effective because it has constituents that kill microbes and acts as an antioxidant. That means it might prevent damage inside cells from chemical byproducts of their activity."
Top Cancer News : "Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania announced today that findings from two large, international clinical trials show unprecedented survival for patients with multiple myeloma, a cancer that occurs in the blood-making cells of bone marrow. The findings show that with the oral drug lenalidomide (REVLIMID�), in combination with the steroid dexamethasone, patients significantly improved by all measures where previous treatments had failed -- including a median survival of nearly three years -- the longest median survival known for this difficult to treat patient group."
icWales: "SUPER fruits like blueberries, blackberries and papaya could be used to stop mouth cancer cells spreading through the rest of the body. They could also reduce the risk of mouth cancer, according to research published in the Journal of Cancer Research. The study, carried out at the University of Hong Kong, found that as well as suppressing the spread of cancer, a substance called lupeol found in blueberries and other “super fruit” also reduced the size of the tumour three times faster than conventional drugs."
Daily Herald "Many patients know that grapefruit juice doesn't mix with certain popular drugs -- notably cholesterol-busting statins such as Zocor and Lipitor. Too much Citrus paradisi, and the blood levels of some medicines can rise to toxic levels. But the grapefruit effect may have a silver lining. Research suggests the fruit's ability to interact with drugs may be exploited to make some medicines more powerful."
Xinhua: "BEIJING, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- China has tightened the quality control on anti-malaria drugs sold to African countries with a newly-issued regulation and other efforts, said the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) here Monday. According to the new regulation, China will only export anti-malaria drugs produced through a group of government-appointed pharmacy companies to African clients and carefully examine their products before export, said Wu Zhen, the SFDA deputy Director, at a press conference. 'We promise to sell safe and effective anti-malaria tablets to Africa,' Wu said, adding that they did receive reports of sub-standard Chinese drugs sold in Africa. "
People's Daily Online: "A study posted in the online issue of U.S. magazine Nature Medicine Sunday suggested that Avandia, a drug used by an estimated 3.5 million or more U.S. diabetes patients, may contribute to bone loss. This study conducted in mice found that over the long term, Avandia (rosiglitazone) may speed osteoporosis, due to both increased bone resorption and decreased bone formation."
abc7.com: : "LOS ANGELES, Nov. 25, 2007 -- If you're experiencing holiday weight gain already, the problem may not be in your refrigerator, it could be in your medicine cabinet. Certain drugs, even common over-the-counter ones, could be making you fat. Can't get a good night's rest? Over-the-counter sleep aids might cause you to 'gain' something more than shut-eye. Piling on the pounds is a side effect of many common medications. 'Anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, mood stabi"
EMS1.com For treatment of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) when drug therapy is necessary. Metformin is the first drug of choice for Type 2 diabetics. In obese patients, unlike some other antidiabetic agents, it is not associated with weight gain and actually promotes weight loss. May afford better glycemic control when used as an adjunct to insulin therapy in Type 1 DM. Beneficial for preventing development of gestational diabetes in women with insulin resistance or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
Yahoo! India News: "London, Nov 30 (ANI): Men who want to boost their performance in the bedroom should drink pomegranate juice, says a new research. According to the University of California scientists, a daily glass can act like Viagra. Lead author Dr Christopher Forest says that the juice is rich in antioxidants, which increases blood supply to the genitals. For the study, the team tested 53 men with impotence problems. They found that nearly half the men who drank it for a month said they found it easier to perform. 'Pomegranate juice has great potential,' the Mirror quoted Dr Forest, as saying. Pomegranates have already been associated with reducing the risk of heart disease and preventing prostate cancer. "
