A Lancet meta-analysis found people who took daily aspirin for more than four years reduced their chance of dying of cancer by 21 percent, with esophageal and throat cancer down 60 percent and colorectal 40 percent. Rosenberg weighs this against Vioxx, once billed as a safer aspirin.
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Drug
Prescription drugs, vaccines and their risks and benefits.
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Drug
Genentech drug delays follicular lymphoma progression, vegetables prevent it
A phase II trial presented to the American Society of Hematology gave Rituxan to symptom-free advanced follicular lymphoma patients instead of watching and waiting, cutting the need for further therapy by 80 percent and disease progression by 79 percent. Infection hit 4 percent.
Drug
National Influenza Vaccination Week: Get Vaccinated
A public health notice for National Influenza Vaccination Week, December 5-12: everyone 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine, with each day highlighting a group, including families, people with asthma or diabetes, health care workers and adults 65 and older.
Drug
Children’s Medication Not being Measured Correctly
A study by H. Shonna Yin of NYU found more than 98 percent of 200 popular over-the-counter children's liquid medicines carried dosing directions that did not match the markings on the cup or syringe supplied. Yin doubts the FDA's 2009 voluntary guidelines are a strong enough step.
Drug
Merck Quits Testing New HIV Treatment with Isentress
Merck halted a trial of once-daily Isentress after 48 weeks showed 83.2% of patients reached undetectable viral loads versus 88.9% on the approved twice-daily dose - a statistically significant gap concentrated among those starting with high viral loads.
Drug
J&J Recalls Tylenol Again
McNeil Consumer Healthcare recalled three Tylenol Cold Multi-Symptom liquids because alcohol, under 1 percent of the formula, was listed as an inactive ingredient but not on the front panel. The company says the products are safe and consumers may keep using them.
Drug
Are You Taking Any of These Dangerous Drugs?
Rosenberg's 2010 drug roundup: Meridia and Darvon were withdrawn, Nuvigil was pushed as a wakefulness drug, and the FDA approved Cymbalta for arthritis and back pain. She points to blood clots, gallbladder disease, strokes and deaths reported in young women taking Yaz and Yasmin.
Drug
HIV drugs boost risk of diabetes and heart disease
Washington University researchers report in the Journal of Biological Chemistry that first-generation protease inhibitors such as ritonavir block a protein that carries blood sugar into cells, leaving sugar in the blood, a marker of diabetes, in patients being treated for HIV.
Drug
Staging localized prostate cancer useless
Reviewing 3,875 registry cases, UCSF's Adam Reese found clinical stage assigned incorrectly 35% of the time, largely because physicians mishandled ultrasound and biopsy results. Even after the stages were corrected, stage showed no correlation with outcomes after radical prostatectomy.
Drug
Vytorin more effective than simvastatin in lowering cholesterol in some patients
A trial found Vytorin cut cardiovascular events in chronic kidney disease patients by 17 percent against placebo, which critics say does not show Zetia adds to simvastatin. An Italian trial in diabetic heart patients found Vytorin 10/20 cut LDL 32.2 percent against 20.8 for simvastatin 40 mg.
Drug
What takes FDA so long to ban Darvon?
The FDA asked Xanodyne on Nov 19 to withdraw Darvon and Darvocet over propoxyphene's link to serious heart rhythm abnormalities, and asked generic makers to follow. Public Citizen petitioned for a ban in 1978 and 2006; the UK banned the drug six years ago.
Drug
Propoxyphene to be withdrawn from U.S. market - FDA
Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals agreed to FDA's request to withdraw the propoxyphene painkillers Darvon and Darvocet from the US market, and FDA asked makers of generic propoxyphene to stop selling as well. Trial data showed patients risked serious or fatal heart rhythm abnormalities.
Drug
Do Bone Drugs Do More Harm Than Good?
Bone drugs rank among the most heavily advertised, yet they may not work and many women may not need them. NPR reported that Merck hired a firm to stoke fears of osteopenia and push Medicare-reimbursable bone scans; Fosamax's esophageal side effects surfaced only after launch.
Drug
Inhaled steroids boost diabetes mellitus risk, particularly in COPD patients
Montreal researchers tracked nearly 400,000 patients treated for COPD or asthma and found each year of inhaled corticosteroid use raised the rate of type 2 diabetes onset from 1.4 to 1.9 percent, a 34 percent increase, with the concern greatest for COPD patients.
Drug
Do antibiotics fight viruses or bacteria?
A Get Smart About Antibiotics Week explainer: antibiotics treat bacterial infections, not viruses, and every course raises the chance bacteria in your body will resist them. Finish the prescription even once you feel better, and never save pills or use someone else's.
Drug
Prostate cancer treatment linked to high colorectal cancer risk
Using SEER records for 107,859 men aged 67 and older diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1993 and 2002, researchers found those given androgen deprivation therapy were 30 to 40% more likely than untreated men to develop colorectal cancer.
Drug
Spiral CT cuts risk of death from lung cancer?
A National Cancer Institute-funded study in Radiology found heavy smokers screened with low-dose spiral CT were 20 percent less likely to die of lung cancer than those screened with chest X-rays. Most earlier trials, including an Italian study of 2,472 men, found no such benefit.
Drug
Many physicians don't follow guidelines about lung cancer screening
A National Cancer Institute survey of 962 primary care physicians found two-thirds thought spiral CT screening cuts lung cancer deaths in smokers and 67 percent would recommend screening asymptomatic patients, though the authors say no guideline or high-quality study supports it.
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