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Drug

Prescription drugs, vaccines and their risks and benefits.

Drug

Acupuncture effective in treating back and joint pain

In a 638-patient trial led by Daniel Cherkin, both real acupuncture and a toothpick sham beat usual care for chronic back pain, and the two groups improved equally. A German knee arthritis study found 50 percent improved with needling versus 40 percent with sham.

Drug

Rogue genes may help high blood pressure treatment

Two British studies in Nature Genetics identified 13 genes linked to blood pressure, some affecting salt levels and others the relaxation of blood vessels. Researchers say the variants, carried by almost half the population, could raise heart attack risk by over 20 percent.

May 11, 2009

Drug

FDA Okays emergency use of flu medicines, test in response to swine flu outbreak in humans

At the CDC's request, the FDA issued Emergency Use Authorizations covering certain Relenza and Tamiflu antiviral products and the rRT-PCR Swine Flu Panel test. They allow Tamiflu in children under 1 and end when the emergency declaration is terminated or the authorization revoked.

Apr 27, 2009

Drug

Epilepsy drug when taken in pregnancy lowers baby's IQ

In the NEAD study of 309 children, those exposed in the womb to valproate averaged an IQ of 92 at age 3, against 101, 99 and 98 for lamotrigine, phenytoin and carbamazepine. Higher maternal doses meant lower scores.

Apr 19, 2009

Drug

Benefits of mammograms overestimated

Brothers James and John Keen report in BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making that only about 5 percent of mammograms save lives, against the American Cancer Society's 15 percent, and that 2,970 women must be screened over 15 years to save one life.

Apr 6, 2009

Drug

Early screening for ovarian cancer appears ineffective

A University of Alabama at Birmingham study questions CA-125 blood tests paired with ultrasound for early detection: the combination caught 70 percent of cancers only in late stages, and about 1.6 percent of positive results were true positives, driving unnecessary surgery.

Apr 2, 2009

Drug

FDA's MedWatch Safety Alerts: March 2009

A rundown of FDA MedWatch alerts from March 2009, led by the March 5 warning that metal in the backing of some medicated adhesive patches can overheat during an MRI scan and burn the skin, plus alerts on Reglan and Raptiva.

Mar 25, 2009

Drug

Exposure to x-ray linked to increased risk of prostate cancer

Men who had a hip or pelvic X-ray or barium enema a decade earlier were 2.5 times more likely to have prostate cancer than the general population, in a study of 431 men diagnosed before 60. The researchers stress this is an association, with no proof the radiological tests caused the increase.

Jul 15, 2008

Drug

Melanoma rates on the rise among young women

Federal researchers analysing cancer data from 1973 to 2004 found melanoma in younger women rose 50 percent after 1980 while young men's rates leveled off. They could not explain the gap and speculate recreational sun exposure or tanning beds may be responsible.

Jul 13, 2008

Drug

Thousands of adverse reactions to cervical cancer vaccine reported

Media reports say thousands of adverse reactions to Merck's Gardasil have reached the CDC since June 2006, including 15 reports of death, with no proof the vaccine caused them. Reported problems include injection-site pain, nausea, blood clots and paralysis from a neurological disorder.

Jul 10, 2008

Drug

Hormone therapy for prostate cancer does more harm than good

A JAMA review of nearly 20,000 men over 65 with early stage prostate cancer found hormone therapy raised deaths from other causes, such as heart disease, offsetting its survival benefit. The authors say monitoring is the better option; the therapy still helps advanced disease.

Jul 9, 2008

Drug

FDA: Antibiotics raise tendon rupture risk

The FDA asked makers of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, including Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Factive, Floxin and Noroxin, to add a boxed warning about tendinitis and tendon rupture. Risk runs highest over age 60, on corticosteroids, and after kidney, heart or lung transplant.

Jul 9, 2008

Drug

Certain anti-cancer agents could be harmful to patients with heart disease

Hedgehog antagonists, experimental anticancer drugs, worsened cardiac function and ultimately killed mice with heart disease, Washington University researchers report in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Senior author David Ornitz urges monitoring patients' hearts.

Jun 24, 2008

Drug

Certain cancer drugs damage the heart and may cause death

Washington University researchers gave hedgehog antagonists, experimental anticancer drugs, to mice with heart disease. The drugs blocked hedgehog signaling in the heart, made small coronary vessels vanish and led to heart failure and death. Ornitz urges monitoring patients' hearts.

Jun 23, 2008

Drug

Prescription drugs kill more people than illicit drugs

Florida's Medical Examiners Commission found prescription drugs caused three times as many deaths as all illicit drugs combined, based on 168,900 autopsies performed in 2007. Cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines accounted for 989 deaths; legal opioids such as Vicodin and OxyContin for 2,328.

Jun 18, 2008

Drug

FDA requests boxed warnings on 'conventional' antipsychotics

The FDA asked for boxed warnings on conventional antipsychotics after trials tied them to higher death rates in elderly patients treated for dementia-related psychosis. Atypical antipsychotics got similar labelling in 2005; neither class is approved for dementia.

Jun 16, 2008

Drug

Psoriasis drug may raise cancer risk

FDA reviewers want animal data suggesting a higher cancer risk added to the label of ustekinumab, an injection that eased psoriasis symptoms in two company trials by suppressing interleukin-12 and 23. Centocor calls the malignancy risk theoretical and plans post-market monitoring.

Jun 14, 2008

Drug

FDA says dental amalgam may harm some people

The piece reprints FDA's questions and answers on dental amalgam, which is roughly 50 percent mercury by weight. FDA says that mercury may have neurotoxic effects on developing children and fetuses, and that its rulemaking will weigh whether released mercury vapor causes health problems.

Jun 13, 2008

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