"Health News - Medicine, Diet and Fitness"

Belgian firm Solvay has released its results for 2005 with pharmaceutical sales up 30 per cent to 2.27 billion euros. The company as a whole had profits of 816 million euros for the year.

In the pharmaceutical sector sales were helped in Europe by the purchase of the French firm Fournier Pharma. A company statement said: “The performance of fenofibrate, Fournier Pharma’s ‘blockbuster’, was remarkable and above our expectations.” Sales in cardiometabolics doubled with the integration of fenofibrates from Fournier Pharma.
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AstraZeneca has lodged its appeal over losing the patent for hypertension treatment Toprol XL (metoprolol succinate). In January US court ruled that two patents for the extended release tablet were invalid and unenforceable finding in favour of the defendants KV Pharmaceutical, Andrx Corp and Novartis’s Eon Labs.

The Toprol patent was due to expire in September 2007 and last year US sales for the drug hit $1,291 million. AstraZeneca continues to maintain that both patents are valid and enforceable. The threat of losing patents for anti-ulcerant Nexium and schizophrenia treatment Seroquel is also looming for AstraZeneca, although no court dates have been fixed.

SEATTLE — In a study of more than 100,000 patients treated for depression, suicide attempts declined during the first month of treatment—whether that treatment consisted of medication, psychotherapy, or both. The findings, published by Group Health researchers in the July American Journal of Psychiatry, show a similar pattern for populations of adolescents and young adults (up to age 24) as for older adults.

The study sheds new light on the “black box” advisory that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placed in 2004 and has revised since then, said Greg Simon, MD, MPH, the Group Health psychiatrist who led the study. The advisory—which has concerned many patients, families, and care providers—warns that suicidal behavior may emerge soon after people younger than 25 start treatment with newer antidepressant medications called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). It was spurred by randomized placebo-controlled trials showing that starting to take an SSRI can make thoughts of suicide more common among some teens and young adults.

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New Study Analyzes FDA Actions Against Manufacturers For Deceptive Marketing Of Vioxx, Paxil, 150 Other Drugs

SAN FRANCISCO—Over the last five years, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent prescription drug companies 170 enforcement letters criticizing false or misleading advertising that omitted or minimized risks, promoted unproven uses, and made other deceptive claims to doctors and consumers about 150 different drugs including Vioxx, Paxil, Oxycontin and Accutane, according to a new report released today by the CALPIRG Education Fund.

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Sanofi-Aventis has recalled 30 batches of the anticoagulant Clexane (enoxaparin). The move was made after quality control tests found there was the possibility that there could be an over-concentration of the active ingredient in a limited number of syringes.

The syringes were delivered to Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa and the UK is on the list of countries which could be affected. The company stated: “It is important to note that the enoxaparin active ingredient is not the subject of this recall.” The problem stemmed from a change to the syringe filling process that was put into place in April 2005. Sanofi-Aventis is to be in contact with all the relevant health authorities and patients, healthcare professionals, pharmacists and wholesalers are to be informed.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has found that Napp Pharmaceuticals broke its advertising rules. A complaint was lodged about the firm’s advert for the painkiller BuTrans (buprenorphine matrix patch) in the British Medical Journal in November 2005.

The MHRA upheld a complaint from a healthcare professional that prescribing information was too small to read. Napp admitted the error and agreed to change future adverts.
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Doctors and patients will still not have important information on side effects of medicine

Statement of Emily Clayton, CALPIRG Health Care Advocate, on today’s Assembly Business and Professions Committee vote on SB 163 (Scott), the Pharmaceutical Drug Safety and Information Act:

“Despite widespread support from consumer, senior, health and labor organizations, the Assembly Business & Professions Committee today failed to pass the year’s most important piece of consumer legislation. With today’s vote, California’s patients and doctors are further from getting the truth about the safety of their medicines. Senator Scott’s legislation would have, for the first time, required drug companies to release the results of all the health studies for their medicines.

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SACRAMENTO—In the wake of ongoing disclosures about pharmaceutical companies’ suppression of negative clinical trial results, a Pacifica father joined labor, senior, health, and consumer groups on the steps of the Capitol to call on members of the state Assembly to pass legislation that could prevent another tragedy like the one suffered by his family.

James Torlakson’s daughter committed suicide in 2004 while taking Celexa, an anti-depressant whose side-effects were downplayed by its manufacturer. The makers of Celexa and other antidepressants like it have come under increasing scrutiny for their failure to warn doctors and patients about negative studies involving the drugs’ use in adolescents.

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Uninsured Sacramento Residents Pay 68 Percent More than the Federal Government

SACRAMENTO—Uninsured consumers in Sacramento pay 68 percent more for common prescription drugs than the federal government does for the same medications, according to, “Paying the Price: The High Cost of Prescription Drugs for Uninsured Californians” a new California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) Education Fund report released today.

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SACRAMENTO—Members of the OURx Bill of Rights Coalition gathered in the state Capitol this morning to applaud Governor Schwarzenegger’s signature of AB 2911 (Nez/Perata), the California Discount Prescription Drug Program. The coalition, comprised of more than a dozen groups representing consumers, the AIDS community, seniors and communities of color, sponsored the bill in the legislature this year.

“This effort began more than 4 years ago with a small group of OURx members and has blossomed into real reform for millions of Californians,” said Michael Weinstein, President of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

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