Defective Drugs

  Another DePuy ASR hip implant lawsuit was filed this week against DePuy Orthopaedics and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson.  This lawsuit was filed on behalf of a 61 year old woman who lives on a farm near Gainesville, Florida.  She had the misfortune of being implanted with not […]

According to an analysis by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, Pradaxa drug (Dabigatran) topped the list of direct reports to the FDA for serious adverse drug events in 2011.  Pradaxa took the lead with 817 direct reports, followed by Coumadin (Warfarin) with 490 direct reports, Levaquin (Levofloxacin) with 393, […]

According to a study published June 11, the users of Actos (pioglitazone) or Avandia (rosiglitazone) may face an increased risk of developing macular edema.  Published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, British researchers collected data on more than 100,000 patients with type 2 diabetes who were enrolled in the British […]

By now you’ve heard about the bisphosphonates that are typically prescribed when a woman or man experiences the bone-thinning disease of osteoporosis or osteopenia. They are known by their commercial names of Boniva, Fosamax, Actonel, Reclast and were introduced in the mid-1990s. Introduced in the mid 1990s, a recent New […]

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on May 17, 2012, suggests that the popular antibiotic azithromycin may increase the risk of sudden cardiovascular death, especially among patients who are already at risk for cardiovascular disease.  Different patient groups were treated with azithromycin (Zithromax), amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin (Cipro), […]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Wednesday, May 9, that patients taking the osteoporosis drug, Fosamax, or any of the bone-building class of drugs known as bisphosphonates, should be reevaluated every three to five years to determine if it is safe for them to remain on the […]

Pradaxa, an anti-coagulant drug marketed by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, enjoyed an unusually smooth (and quick) ride towards FDA approval.  Rather than spending months pouring over clinical studies and safety data, FDA employees instead approved Pradaxa based primarily on a single study and did so in just six months.  Below are […]

There have been some significant developments in the bisphosphonate litigation over the past few months.  Now that the two-year anniversary of the FDA’s safety alert over atypical femur fractures has passed, we anticipate that nearly 70 to 80% of the bisphosphonate cases in the country have now been filed. The […]

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is taking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to task. In a new report, the IOM says the FDA should conduct more regular reviews of drugs to better catch and track safety issues. In order to better inform patients and the doctors who treat […]

The Top Ten of anything usually designates the ‘best’ but not in this case. An online report from Adverse Events Inc., an independent company that analyzes the FDA’s database of Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS), has just issued its Top Ten list of Dangerous Drugs for the second quarter Q2 […]