Among Danish women aged 50 to 79 followed from 1995 to 2005, current hormone therapy users were 38 percent more likely to develop ovarian cancer than never-users, and former users 15 percent more likely. Risk did not vary significantly by formulation, regimen or route.
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Drug
Prescription drugs, vaccines and their risks and benefits.
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Drug
HRT Increases Ovarian Cancer Risk
A Danish study reported in JAMA found women on hormone replacement therapy had a 38 percent greater risk of ovarian cancer than never-users. The absolute risk stays low, about one extra case per 8,300 women, and returns to normal two years after stopping.
Drug
Fentanyl Has a Long History of Abuse
A synthetic opiate thought to be 100 times stronger than morphine, fentanyl has drawn addicted medical staff since 1980 and killed 18 doctors nationwide by 1991. A surgical technician with hepatitis C swapped prepped syringes for saline; it is also sold on the street as heroin.
Drug
Drug Test May Not Tell the Whole Statin Story
A Tufts and University of Bern study found 25 of 44 statin patients with muscle pain had microscopic muscle injury despite normal creatine phosphokinase readings. The researchers conclude a CPK test can confirm muscle damage but cannot rule it out.
Drug
Advisory Panel Suggests Banning Vicodin, Percocet
An FDA advisory panel urged the agency to ban Vicodin and Percocet over liver damage from the acetaminophen they contain. Overdoses account for 400 deaths and 42,000 hospital visits, in part because many people do not know cold remedies and other drugs also contain the ingredient.
Drug
FDA Okays Eli Lilly Lung Cancer Treatment
The FDA cleared Eli Lilly's Alimta as a maintenance treatment for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, letting doctors keep giving it after initial chemotherapy instead of waiting for tumors to start growing again.
Drug
Antismoking drugs cause suicidal thoughts
Drug regulators warned that the smoking cessation drugs Chantix and Zyban can cause suicidal thoughts, agitation and aggression in some patients. Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline will add black box warnings, but an FDA official said the drugs will stay on the market because they help smokers quit.
Drug
What I need to know about Liver Transplantation
Noting that Steve Jobs received a liver transplant in Tennessee, the piece reprints a U.S. government primer on the procedure: what the liver does, warning signs such as jaundice, fatigue and fluid buildup, and why cirrhosis is the most common reason adults need a new liver.
Drug
Two studies show promise for lung cancer treatments
Two mouse studies point toward possible lung cancer treatments: a Korean team's inhalable gene-therapy spray left mice with fewer and smaller tumors than untreated animals, and an Italian team doubled survival by targeting nicotine receptors with the compound a-CbT.
Drug
FDA warns consumers not to use skin products made by Clarcon (PR)
Clarcon Biological Chemistry Laboratory is voluntarily recalling skin sanitizers and protectants sold under brands including Skin Shield and Citrushield after FDA testing found high levels of bacteria. The agency told consumers to throw away any Clarcon product.
Drug
Acetaminophen can cause liver damage
An FDA advisory committee recommended stronger warning labels and changes to dosage limits for acetaminophen, calling it the leading cause of acute liver failure from 1998 through 2003 and noting that small amounts over the four-gram daily limit may injure the liver.
Drug
Vaccination alters the immune system
A Cancer Causes Control study of 387 non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients and 535 controls in Nebraska tied influenza vaccination to a 53 percent higher NHL risk, while polio and smallpox vaccination tracked with lower risk. Tetanus and tuberculosis shots showed no association.
Drug
PARP blockers effective in treating hard-to-treat breast cancers
At the ASCO meeting, a study of 116 triple negative breast cancer patients found those given a PARP inhibitor with chemotherapy lived 3.5 months longer than those on chemotherapy alone. An AstraZeneca PARP inhibitor shrank tumors in 41 percent of BRCA mutation carriers.
Drug
Chemotherapy drugs help patients with non-small lung cancer
In a trial of more than 700 advanced lung cancer patients, adding Tarceva to Avastin delayed cancer progression to 4.8 months from 3.7, at the cost of more rash, diarrhea, hypertension and fatigue and eight deaths from adverse events. Continuing Alimta extended survival to 13.4 months from 10.6.
Drug
Chemotherapy can lead to new cancers
Copenhagen researchers followed 47,769 people diagnosed with cancer before age 20 between 1943 and 2005 and found them three times likelier than their peers to develop a new cancer, a risk persisting into their seventies. Lead author Jorgen Olsen blames the treatments, not genetics.
Drug
How Safe Is Your Asthma Medication?
Robert Davidson, a former clinical research subinvestigator at a Tucson allergy clinic, alleges trials of seven approved asthma and allergy drugs were corrupted by protocol violations and falsification, with unsuitable patients enrolled and staff unblinding studies.
Drug
Post-surgical radiation treatment increases risk of recurrence of breast cancer
Dutch researchers tracked women irradiated after breast surgery between 1970 and 1986. Those treated at 45 or younger were more likely to develop cancer in the other breast, with the risk climbing sharply under 35, and lumpectomy patients fared worse than mastectomy patients.
Drug
HRT confirmed to increase heart attack risk in women
US heart attacks have fallen since the 2002 Women's Health Initiative warning drove HRT use among women aged 50-59 from 30 percent to under 15 percent, by RAND's count 25 fewer per 10,000 a year. Cardiologist Nieca Goldberg says it is premature to credit HRT's decline alone.
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