The Bush administration last week said it would be extraordinarily difficult and costly for personal importation to be implemented in a way that ensures the safety and effectiveness of the imported drugs. Furthermore, the overall savings from legalized commercial importation would be small, and developing and implementing such a program would incur significant costs and […]

President Bush goes to Canada on Tuesday and the very next day the Food and Drug Administration announced its latest action to curb the illegal importing of prescription drugs from Canada. The agency says the more affordable drugs from Canada may be “potentially unsafe” for American consumers.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, […]

U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it plans to conduct an in-depth evaluation of its approach in detecting, assessing, managing and communicating the risks and benefits of prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
Dr. Lester Crawford, acting F.D.A. commissioner, authorized the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) to sponsor the Institute of Medicine to […]

Prices for brand name prescription drugs most frequently used by people 50 and older continue to increase faster than inflation, according to a new study released last week by the AARP.
According to the study: “Prices rose 3.4 percent during the three-month period ending March 31, 2004 compared to a 1.2 percent rate of general inflation […]

Prices for brand-name prescription drugs used by older Americans have increased three times faster than the rate of inflation in each of the past four years, according to a study released Tuesday by AARP, a nonprofit group that addresses the needs and interests of people 50 and older.
The study, “Trends in Manufacturer Prices of Brand […]

U.S. District Judge Clair Eagan ordered immediate closure of Rx Depot, a chain of stores that helps U.S. residents buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, a practice the U.S. government says is illegal and scorns federal health controls.
“This court is not unsympathetic to the predicament faced by individuals who cannot afford their prescription drugs at […]

Australia’s October newsletter for Adverse Drug Reaction Advisory Committee (ADRAC) warns that commonly prescribed drugs for arthritis, depression and epilepsy have been linked to a variety of potentially adverse health effects including heart attacks, convulsions and birth defects.
The newsletter contains warnings about the arthritis drugs Celebrex and Vioxx, the anti-depressant mirtazapine (marketed as Remeron, […]

Side effects from prescription drugs impact one in four patients, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“It’s a problem that is common, in many cases the impact could be prevented or reduced, and it has a large impact on patients,” said Tejal Gandhi, an internist at Brigham & Women’s […]