Cancer drug Iressa has a higher rate of a potentially fatal side effect then what was demonstrated in an earlier study, AstraZeneca said last week.
“A new 10-month study involving 3,322 lung cancer patients found 5.8 percent of them suffered interstitial pneumonia within eight weeks of starting treatment with Iressa, with a mortality rate of 2.3 […]

The rheumatoid arthritis drug Remicade from Johnson & Johnson has new warning labels following reports of patients on the drug suffering from blood disorders that in some cases were fatal, the U.S. Food and Drug announced last week.
Johnson & Johnson sent a letter to doctors earlier this month that said, “The causal relationship to Remicade […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said last week that number of U.S. lakes and rivers contaminated with mercury, a highly toxic metal that poses health risks for pregnant women and young children, continues to rise despite the fact that U.S. emissions of mercury have declined by almost 50 percent since 1990.
In 2003, 48 states, the […]

Women who drink one or more sugar-sweetened beverages like non-diet soda and fruit punch every day tend to gain more weight and have an increased risk of Type 2 Diabetes, according to a study published in last week’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers analyzed data collected from the Brigham and Women’s […]

Wells Fargo last week agreed to pay $6.7 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accused the bank of illegally selling customers’ personal financial data to telemarketers.
As part of the settlement, Wells Fargo will pay $3.2 million to 81 charities and provide $3.5 million worth of online services to customers. Current and former Wells […]

Two Florida residents who were prescribed the epilepsy drug Neurontin for so-called “off-label” uses filed a class action lawsuit against Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drugmaker, for illegally promoting Neurontin for non-approved uses.
The lawsuit, filed in a Miami-Dade Circuit Court, says Warner Lambert and its Parke-Davis, Inc. subsidiary - both acquired by Pfizer in 2000 […]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said last week that it has completed a new analysis of data regarding antidepressants and suicidal tendencies in children.
The FDA said the new data may warrant new warnings labels for antidepressants.
“Although specific new labeling language has yet to be developed, FDA will assure that the labels of the antidepressants […]

New overtime rules go into effect today that will impact millions of workers across a broad range of job categories including assistant managers at retail stores, fast food restaurants, financial service industry workers, registered nurses and law enforcement personal.
The Bush Administration says as many as 107,000 could lose their overtime eligibility under the new rules, […]

California nursing homes owned by The Ensign Group put seniors at risk of serious injury including bed sores, repeated falls, unexpected weight loss, medication errors and other problems, according to a new report by Nursing Home Watch.
The group is calling on the state to fix the Medi-Cal (similar to Medicaid in other states) funding system […]

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland on Wednesday approved a $500 million trust fund to pay asbestos claims against the St. Paul Travelers Companies, Inc. that relate to the bankruptcy of the Johns-Manville Corp.
Travelers, which merged with St. Paul Companies in April, was Johns-Manville’s primary insurer while it made and sold asbestos from the 1940s to […]