Once again, we have Johnson & Johnson recall news. And once again, it’s a product sold by J&J operating unit McNeil Consumer Healthcare. The company says wood and other particles have been found in Softchews Rolaids, so it’s expanding the November Rolaids recall to include all lots of the Softchews products.
Continue reading ‘J&J Recalls Rolaids on Wood-Particle Contamination’
Electronic cigarettes are nicotine-delivery devices that include a heating element that vaporizes chemicals in replaceable plastic cartridges. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside recently evaluated five e-cigarette brands and, finding design flaws, lack of adequate labeling, and several concerns about quality control and health issues, concluded that e-cigarettes are potentially harmful and urged regulators to consider removing e-cigarettes from the market until their safety is adequately evaluated.
Continue reading ‘FDA Loses Battle in War Against e-cigarettes’
More drugs are hitting the recall list these days. As CNN Money reports, the number of recalls hit 1,742 last year–that’s an increase of 309 percent over 2008. “We’ve seen a trend where the last four years are among the top five for the most number of drug recalls since we began tallying recalls in 1988,” says Bowman Cox, managing editor of the Gold Sheet, a trade pub that analyzes FDA data. “That’s a meaningful development.”
Pharmaceuticals promoting their products through Facebook “Shares” have been warned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)… and they’re apparently heeding that warning. Pharmaceutical company Novartis removed it’s Facebook Share after receiving a letter from the FDA warning that the Facebook Share button it is using to promote its cancer medication, Tasigna, violates FDA requirements about disclosure of drug information, and that the information is misleading and “implies superiority over other product.”
When his phone battery ran low, instead of dialing 911 and possibly languishing on hold, Atlanta Councilman Kwanza Hall tweeted, “Need a paramedic on corner of John Wesley Dobbs and Jackson St. Woman on the ground unconscious. Pls ReTweet,” according to WSBTV. Within moments, Twitter followers retweeted his message and several called 911. Paramedics were able to rush the woman to the hospital.
Continue reading ‘Web users see Twitter, Facebook as 911 backup’
GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) has agreed to pay more than $1 billion of its $2.4 billion legal expense budget to settle hundreds of Paxil birth defect lawsuits. Families whose children were born with birth defects after their mothers used Paxil will each get an average of $1.2 million from the company. The settlement covers more than 800 of the birth defect cases, leaving more than 100 pending, sources tell Bloomberg. GSK spokeswoman Claire Brough confirms for Reuters that other birth-defect cases are still outstanding. Three of them are scheduled for trial in Philadelphia in September, she said.
A Utah doctor is being sent to jail for his connection to an illegal online pharmacy that sold more than eight million weight-loss pills manufactured in Mexico. Dr James A Brinton was sentenced to three years in a federal penitentiary after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute phentermine and conspiracy to commit international money laundering, according to the Desert News. The doctor was one of 18 people who were charged with crimes in connection to the Lighthouse Meds website.
Continue reading ‘Utah Doctor Sentenced to Three Years for Illegal Online Pharmacy’
Nigeria is fast-tracking mobile authentication services in its fight against drug counterfeiters. Manufacturers will bear the brunt of the cost, at least initially. The costal country of 150 million is at the forefront of African anti-counterfeiting efforts, thanks largely to a rampant supply of malaria drug fakes. In mid-May, the nonprofit Pedigree Network and computer giant HP launched an authentication trial in Nigeria and Ghana; Nigeria is also conducting tests with Merck using technology from Sproxil.
Continue reading ‘Nigeria Takes on Fake Drugs with New Technology’
Gulf Coast native Kindra Arnesen is so anxious about the effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill she is packing up her family and leaving town. “Stress? Dude my clothes are falling off me (because of weight loss). The level of stress here is tremendous. My husband has aged 10 years in two months,” Arnesen said on Friday as she loaded possessions into a van outside her trailer home in Venice.
Continue reading ‘Mental Health a Growing Concern after Gulf Spill’
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) recalled more Tylenol and other over-the-counter drugs on Thursday after they were linked to a musty or moldy odor, expanding a recall the company started in January. J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit said the latest recall involved 21 lots of medications, including Tylenol for children and adults, several forms of Benadryl allergy tablets and Motrin painkiller. But it did not say how many pieces were in each lot or give a total number of items involved. J&J spokeswoman Bonnie Jacobs said, “We do not have that information.”
Continue reading ‘J&J Recalls More Tylenol, over-the-counter drugs’
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