U.S. health regulators have finally weighed in on the risk of zinc poisoning posed by denture creams like Fixodent, and until recently, Super Poligrip. This week, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) sent a letter to the makers of zinc containing denture creams recommending that they take steps to mitigate the risk of neuropathy and [...]

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has mandated that the Pregnancy sections of the labels for the entire class of antipsychotic drugs now include consistent information about the potential risk for EPS and/or withdrawal symptoms in newborns whose mothers were treated with these drugs during the third trimester of pregnancy. Drugs that will bear [...]

Two important professional organizations for plastic surgeons have been accused of telling their members to downplay the breast implant lymphoma risk.  According to Public Citizen, this occurred during a webinar held for members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) on February 3, just days [...]

A new study is highlighting another possible problem with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). They might inhibit the effectiveness of Fosamax and other drugs known as bisphosphonates that are used to treat osteoporosis. For the “Archives of Internal Medicine” study, researchers observed 38,088 new users of Fosamax (alendronate sodium) for a period of mean duration 3.5 [...]

It looks like lawsuits involving tainted water at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base will be heard in one jurisdiction.  Earlier this month, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated all Camp Lejeune toxic water lawsuits in a multidistrict litigation. The lawsuits were transferred to the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia, [...]

The parents of a young woman who died while taking Darvocet have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals Inc.  Tammy and John Gilbert’s Darvocet lawsuit claims Xanodyne should have known about the drug’s potentially deadly side effects. The Gilbert’s daughter, 22-year-old Kira Nicole – Nikki to her friends and family – died in [...]

Did unethical conduct on the part of a Procter & Gamble consultant cause a two-year delay in the publication of a 2006 study that linked zinc in denture cream to neuropathy? Procter & Gamble is the maker of Fixodent, a zinc-containing denture cream.  Fixodent is the subject of hundreds of lawsuits claiming that excessive use [...]

Once again, frackers appear to have violated natural gas drilling regulations – this time in Pennsylvania. According to a ProPublica report, Pennsylvania environmental regulators know about it, and they’ve been allowing it. The issue involves “well records,” which natural gas drillers, including those engaged in hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus shale, are supposed to file [...]

Sometime in the future, Americans may not have to worry about perchlorate in their drinking water. For the first time in its history, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving to regulate perchlorate, a potentially toxic substance that may impact the normal function of the thyroid. In a separate action, the EPA said it is [...]

There was more bad news regarding Avastin today.  A new study from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York has found that Avastin increases the risk of death and fatal side effects in patients treated with the pricey cancer drug, versus those who undergo chemotherapy alone. Avastin, the best selling cancer drug in the [...]