Fort Collins Personal Injury Lawyer - FDA & Prescription Drugs

Beef Bouillon Recalled Due to Allergy Alert

Chrissie Cole — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Associated Brands announced a voluntary recall of some “Price Rite Beef Flavored Cubes” because they may contain dairy allergens, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The recall involves 320 cases (about 3,840 selling units) with a UPC Code of 41190 75581 on the label. The lot code, on the top of the jar says 22 JUL 11.

Consumers who have an allergy to milk may be at risk of a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume foods made with the recalled item.

To date, there have been no reports of illnesses or allergic reactions associated with the recalled products.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Both Parties Agree – FDA Needs More Money

Linda Snyder — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:10:45 GMT

In a rare display of bipartisanship, both Republican and Democratic Senators agreed the Food and Drug Administration is under funded for next year. “To us, it’s clear that they’re seriously under funded,” said Senator Herb Kohl at the Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Tuesday. Kolh, a democrat from Wisconsin, is the head of the Appropriations subcommittee which oversees the FDA’s spending.

Senator Robert F. Bennett, Republican of Utah, the subcommittee’s ranking minority member agreed with Kohl and pressed Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, the food and drug commissioner, to say how much more money the FDA needed. Dr. von Eschenbach replied he would “welcome an opportunity to present a scenario of portfolio options” for financing. He also expressed doubt that the FDA could accommodate the 20 percent budget resolution passed by the Senate last month. That’s an additional $375 million over the 2008 allocated budget which comes from taxpayer revenue as opposed to money that comes from user fees paid by drug and medical device companies.

Consider...

• A report by a panel of outside advisors released last year, asserts American lives were in danger because the FDA didn’t have the money, staff or the scientific expertise to protect them.

• Last month, Dr. von Eschenbach says the FDA “may fail in its mission to protect and promote the health of every American” and that “peril exists.”

• At the hearing on Tuesday, Dr. von Eschenbach reverses his stance and claims, “I believe we have been eminently successful up to this period of time.” He continues, “We are the world’s gold standard.”

• Dr. von Eschenbach testified at the hearing, in response to the heparin controversy, the contamination of heparin whose active ingredient which had been imported from China was “apparently, we suspect, done by virtue of economic fraud,” to enhance profit.

• After the hearing, Dr. von Eschenbach does an about face and says “he probably went too far” in his testimony. He claims the FDA does not have proof that the contamination was deliberate and fraudulent.

So, between a commissioner who flip-flops his position on an almost daily basis and an agency that is seemly run by the drug companies as the FDA approves drugs at the whim of drug companies as shown by the heparin debacle, the Vioxx tragedy, and Vytorin and Zetia half truths, we as consumers need to accept the fact the FDA as it exists today is not functioning in our best interests.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Linda Snyder

Top 10 Deadliest Drugs

Linda Snyder — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:31:29 GMT

In 1988, the AIDS activist group ACT UP staged a protest that led to a dramatic change in the US Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) drug approval process. Previously, the drug approval process was slow, bureaucratic and unresponsive to patients who were desperately ill and might not live to see a drug approved. By 1995, the process became streamlined and dying patients with no other options were given early access to promising medications. Drugs that were granted “priority review” status saw the approval times drop from just under three years to as little as six months.

This makes perfects sense for terminal patients and for catastrophic diseases such as AIDS and cancer, however this streamlining process has allowed drugs to be approved before proper testing has been completed. Vioxx, which may have caused up to 100,000 heart attack and stroke related deaths, is a direct result of prioritizing speed over safety. And, studies have shown that drug makers are spending almost twice as much on marketing a drug than they are on research and development.

A dangerous by-product of this streamlined approval process is weaker standards. The arguments made for fatal diseases such as AIDS and cancer were then extrapolated to other less serious conditions. In 1999, Vioxx was approved under these diluted standards and only after millions of people have taken it was research made public showing that high doses of Vioxx increased the risk of heart attack by a factor of 5 compared to a similar painkiller, naproxen (Aleve).

So, what can you do to protect yourself? Be an informed consumer and research any drugs you are taking for any potential safety risks. Some drugs, like Darvon and Darvocet have been found to be no more effective than aspirin, and they may cause heart damage.

1. Oxycodone Prescription opiod painkiller 5548 deaths 1998 - 2005

2. Fentanyl Prescription opiod painkiller 3545 deaths 1998 - 2005

3. Clozapine Anitpsychotic 3277 deaths 1998 - 2005

4. Morphine Prescription opiod painkiller 1616 deaths 1998 - 2005

5. Acetaminophen Over-the-counter painkiller 1393 deaths 1998 - 2005

6. Methadone Prescription opiod painkiller 1258 deaths 1998 - 2005

7. Infliximab Immune-system modulating drug 1228 deaths 1998 - 2005

8. Interferon beta Immune-system modulating drug 1178 deaths 1998 - 2005

9. Risperidone Antipsychotic 1093 deaths 1998 - 2005

10. Etanercept Immune-system modulating drug 1034 deaths 1998 - 2005

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Linda Snyder