Public Citizen sued the FDA for failing to rule within six months on its petition to pull propoxyphene, sold as Darvon and Darvocet, from the market. The group says the painkiller has caused more than 2,000 accidental deaths since 1981 and that ibuprofen works better for most pain.
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Health News
Drugs, disease, healthcare, government and lifestyle: health news beyond the plate.
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Disease
What's behind the link between type 2 diabetes and depression?
Among 6,814 adults followed three years in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, people with elevated depressive symptoms were 42 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, and diabetics taking medication had a raised risk of depression.
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.
Disease
Rheumatoid arthritis is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease
Two studies presented at EULAR 2008 recorded cardiovascular events in 8.6 percent of rheumatoid arthritis patients versus 4.3 percent of the general population, and adjusted odds for CVD of 2.0 in RA against 2.3 in type 2 diabetes. Researchers say RA should count as a cardiovascular risk factor.
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.
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.
Environment
Traffic pollution raises risk of childhood allergies
Children living within 50 metres of a busy road were 50 percent more likely to develop asthma, hay fever, eczema and other allergies than children living farther away, researchers found after following healthy Munich children from birth for six years.
Environment
PVC shower curtains release harmful chemicals
A study for the Center for Health, Environment & Justice found PVC shower curtains bought from five major retailers released volatile organic compounds, phthalates and organotins into the air for up to 28 days. The group asked the CPSC to recall them.
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.
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.
Disease
Lower glucose does not mean better for diabetics
The ACCORD trial pushed 10,251 type 2 diabetes patients to a glycated hemoglobin of 6.4% or a standard 7.5% and followed them a mean 3.5 years. Nonfatal cardiovascular events were slightly fewer with intensive treatment, but 257 of those patients died against 203 on standard therapy.
Environment
Nanotubes are as deadly as asbestos
Carbon nanotubes, 10,000 times thinner than a human hair, promise lighter and stronger plastics and tiny electronics. A quoted Wikipedia passage describes their cylindrical sp2-bonded structure, extraordinary strength, unusual electrical properties and efficient heat conduction.
Miscellaneous
Boy dies of "dry drowning"
No account exists of exactly how the boy died. His mother told NBC News he swam, said later at home that he felt sleepy, and was found with a strange white spongy material on his face; he died at hospital. A pediatrician named three warning signs parents should act on.
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.
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.
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.
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