Merck & Co., the drugmaker facing 900 lawsuits over claims that its osteoporosis drug Fosamax causes the death of jawbone tissue, goes to trial tomorrow in a case that may affect all the others. The trial in New York of the first case of the group, filed by Shirley Boles,…
As investigators with the Consumer Product Safety Commission prepared for a visit to China next week to look into tainted drywall, the federal judge overseeing the massive basket of legal cases reiterated his plan to speed the proceedings along. In a report to Congress, the federal agency — leading the…
Merck & Co., the drugmaker facing 900 lawsuits over claims that its osteoporosis drug Fosamax causes the death of jawbone tissue, goes to trial tomorrow in a case that may affect all the others. The trial in New York of the first case of the group, filed by Shirley Boles,…
Yaz and Yasmin are different from other combination birth control pills because they both contain a new type of progestin hormone known as drsp or drospirenone. However, drospirenone has diuretic activity that can cause an increase in the user’s potassium levels, which can lead to dangerous health problems and is…
A federal appeals court has invalidated Bayer’s patent for the birth control pill Yasmin, allowing Teva Pharmaceuticals to produce the generic version, Ocella, without licensing the drug. The U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s finding that the use of the progestin drospirenone that led to Yasmin were too…
A Texas law firm is targeting generic drug giant Mylan Inc., along with other pharmaceutical companies, in product liability lawsuits related to the manufacture of pain patches. The lawsuits involve the powerful painkiller fentanyl, which is applied to the skin in a patch for the slow release of the medication.…
An expert panel reported that two more diseases may be linked to exposure to Agent Orange, a defoliant used by the American military during the Vietnam War. People exposed to the chemical appear, at least tentatively, to be more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease, according to…
Pfizer Inc.’s Warner-Lambert unit created a list of 13 ailments that its epilepsy medicine Neurontin could treat as part of its promotion of the drug for unapproved uses, a former employee testified. “I was trained from day one” to market the drug illegally, David Franklin testified. Franklin, who worked as…
Federal regulators on Tuesday added stronger warnings to a group of best-selling drugs used to treat arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, saying they can increase the risk of cancer in children and adolescents. After more than a year of review, Food and Drug Administration scientists said the drugs appear to…
Merck & Co., facing more than 850 lawsuits over claims that its osteoporosis drug Fosamax may cause irreversible “jaw rot,” won’t face punitive damages in the first trial, a federal judge said. U.S. District Judge John Keenan said at a hearing today in New York that he’ll release a decision…