Drug

Prescription drugs, vaccines and their risks and benefits.

Drug

We win -- FDA must classify mercury fillings

Campaigners settled Moms Against Mercury v. Von Eschenbach, and the FDA agreed to classify mercury amalgam by July 28, 2009 and to rewrite its website, dropping claims that no science questions amalgam's safety. An editor's note urges asking a dentist for a less toxic filling.

Drug

Cervical procedure raises risk of preterm birth

Maria Kyrgiou's team pooled 27 studies and found LEEP raised the odds of preterm delivery by 70 percent and of a low-birth-weight infant by 82 percent, and tripled the risk of premature membrane rupture. Cold knife conization raised risks further; laser ablation did not.

Jun 6, 2008

Drug

Regranex linked to higher cancer death risk

The FDA now says Regranex users developed new cancers at the same rate as non-users, while cautioning the study was too short to settle the question. Johnson & Johnson added a boxed warning, and FDA advises using the diabetic foot ulcer gel only when benefits outweigh risks.

Jun 6, 2008

Drug

Anti-Inflammation Drugs May Raise Cancer Risk

The FDA has received about 30 cancer reports over a decade from patients on TNF blockers, nearly half of them lymphomas. Because these drugs are often taken with other immune-suppressing medicines, the agency says it is hard to tell which one drives the risk.

Jun 5, 2008

1120 stories