Drugs and Medications News

Earlier this week, preliminary results from two trials in Congo suggested that the two drugs significantly reduced the risk of death from Ebola.

The FDA approved the gene therapy Zolgensma to treat children with a severe form of spinal muscular atrophy. The drug costs $2.125 million for a one-time treatment, CBS News reported.

Valisure reported finding high levels of called N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) in specific lots of the drug.

The results of the small study suggest that taking in more vitamin K, not less, might help patients on warfarin (Coumadin).

The most common one found was trimethoprim, which is primarily used to treat urinary tract infections. It was detected at 307 of the 711 sites, according to the researchers.

The dangerous ingredient, vinpocetine, is in supplements that claim to enhance memory, focus or mental sharpness. They also supposedly increase energy and aid weight loss, the FDA said

Doctors may one day use your genes or species of bacteria to predict how well you’ll metabolize a certain drug, one of the study’s authors said.

Everything from oils to gummies to pills, creams and ointments are now for sale at supermarkets and specialty chains. You can even get massages infused with CBD, or cosmetics laced with the drug.

The net benefit of sharing notes with patients could be significant because people not properly taking their medications costs the health care system about $300 billion a year.

Researchers said the findings support a recent change to guidelines on low-dose aspirin: The blood thinner should now be reserved for people at high risk of heart attack or stroke.

The prices are expected to appear in text toward the end of TV commercials, when potential side effects are being listed. The new policy, which could take effect as early as this summer, covers all brand name drugs covered by Medicare and Medicaid, which is nearly all medications.

The drop in prescription use reverses a trend that had persisted since the 1990s, the study authors said.

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.