Drugs and Medications News

In the past year, more concerns about the drugs’ side effects have led the FDA to issue new warnings about their use.

More than 23 percent of prescriptions studied were inappropriate, or not medically justified, researchers said. The inappropriate prescriptions were mostly for colds, chest infections and coughs.

The risk for rupture, or dissection, of the aorta, rises with the use of antibiotics in a class known as fluoroquinolones delivered by injection or as a pill. The drugs "should not be used in patients at increased risk unless there are no other treatment options available," the FDA said.

Researchers who analyzed dust samples found that in those with higher concentrations of triclosan, bacteria were more likely to have genetic changes indicating antibiotic resistance.

NDEA is found naturally in certain foods, drinking water, air pollution, and industrial processes, and it may cause cancer, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

In a recent survey, about 48 percent of parents said they'd kept leftover antibiotics rather than properly dispose of them, and instead gave them to siblings, unrelated children and unrelated adults.

Feds and Pharma Spar Over Drug Costs in TV Ads Oct. 16, 2018 -- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wants drugmakers to list the price of pharmaceuticals in television ads -- even as the industry tried to head off the new rules by promising to give consumers more information about pricing.The Trump administration first mentioned requiring drug prices in ads in May, as part of the government's American Patients First plan to lower drug costs. In August, it began officially reviewing a proposed rule.Members of Congress have also pressed for action. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Of more than 500,000 antibiotic prescriptions analyzed in a new study, nearly half were written without an infection-related diagnosis.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued warning letters to companies marketing supplements that they claim will counter the effects of the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays.

Sepsis is a leading cause of hospital deaths. Now, researchers at several hospitals are trying to reproduce the success one Virginia doctor had with a combination of vitamins and steroids.

Last fall, more than 912,000 pounds of prescription drugs were turned in at more than 5,300 Take Back Day sites operated by the DEA and nearly 4,300 state and local law enforcement partners.

Overall, nearly two-thirds of opioids prescribed after surgery went unused by patients, the study found. These drugs wound up lingering in patients' homes, inviting abuse and the potential for addiction, Habermann said.

Health officials say these new bacteria must be contained quickly, lest they share their antibiotic-resistance genetics with other potentially more dangerous germs.

Making a medication taste better can interfere with its basic chemistry and, sometimes, raise the concerns of parents and caregivers that it’s too attractive to children.

Of 109 ER doctors at four hospitals, two-thirds underestimated how often they prescribed opioids such as OxyContin (oxycodone) and Vicodin (hydrocodone), the researchers said.

Their analysis of data from 76 countries found large increases in antibiotic use in low- and middle-income countries, and a slight decrease in high-income countries.

Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, in Germany, tested about 1,000 medicines on 40 species of gut bacteria. Of 923 non-antibiotics tested, 250 affected the growth of at least one of species of gut bacteria.

The study of women age 60 or older found those who took antibiotics for at least two months were 27 percent more likely to die from all causes over a period of eight years, and they had a 58 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease, specifically.

Emergency room visits for opioid overdoses increased nationwide and across all demographic groups between July 2016 and September 2017, according to ER records analyzed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Disagreement centers largely upon the herb's ability to activate opioid receptors in the brain, experts say.

Kratom -- a plant that grows in Asia -- poses serious health risks, according to the FDA. Earlier this month, the agency declared that kratom acts like an opioid in the human brain.

Nearly $64 billion of that spending was for the development of 84 first-in-class drugs that use new biological mechanisms or targets.

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants were 15 percent more likely than a doctor to prescribe an antibiotic to adults with these four conditions, the study found.

The new study included more than 560,000 people who were prescribed opioids such as OxyContin or Percocet after surgery. None had a history of recent or chronic opioid use.

The drug, Diclegis, failed to meet minimum effectiveness goals in the clinical trial relied upon by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its approval in 2013, Canadian researchers reported.