Giving a person the highest dose of the cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor after they have recently suffered a heart attack provides little or no benefit, according to a new study published in the September issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. Individuals who took the highest recommend dose, 80 milligrams a day, also had […]

A federal appeals court in Atlanta on Wednesday ruled that a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of 900,000 doctors against eight of the nation’s largest healthcare managed organizations (HMOs) may go to trial, The Associated Press reported.
The doctors accuse the HMOs of engaging in a conspiracy to underpay them by programming their computer systems […]

Patients taking the highest recommended daily dosage of the arthritis drug Vioxx had three times the risk of heart attack or sudden cardiac death when compared to individuals taking the arthritis drug Celebrex, according to a new government study.
The study, funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, compared the data of 40,405 Kaiser Permanente […]

“Ephedra-Free” weight loss products that contain Citrus aurantium (Seville Orange) extracts may also have the potential to cause adverse health effects, according to a new review published in the September issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine.
Researchers, from Georgetown University Medical Center, said they found little evidence that products containing Citrus aurantium are an effective […]

New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey last week filed a lawsuit against dietary supplements maker N.V.E. alleging the company advertised its ephedra-based supplements Stacker 2 as safe despite receiving hundreds of complaints from consumers who reported that they experienced significant adverse side effects from using the products.
The lawsuit names as defendants N.V.E and its […]

GlaxoSmithKline last week agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle charges from the New York Attorneys General’s office that it had concealed information about the safety and effectiveness of Paxil in treating children and adolescents with depression.
As part of the agreement, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will become the first major drug manufacturer to publicly disclose information […]