http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (HealthDay)—Medical practices that purchase Botox may unwittingly be purchasing a fraudulent product not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for sale in the United States, according to an April 26 drug safety alert issued by the agency. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-fda-purveyors-phony-botox.html Medications Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:50:01 EST news286459196 (HealthDay)—Search logs can be used to inexpensively mine for anonymized signals that may alert authorities to potential drug interactions and add new Web-scale pharmacovigilance capabilities, according to research published online March 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-internet-drug-interactions.html Medications Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:50:01 EST news283698149 Internet searches on health symptoms can be used to identify drug side effects and could be used to develop a new kind of early warning system to boost drug safety, indicates a study published online in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-internet-drug-safety-issues.html Medications Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:30:03 EST news281808744 The pharmaceutical industry has pulled back on marketing to physicians and consumers, yet some enduring patterns persist. According to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, advertising peaked in 2004, with industry promotion to physicians declining nearly 25 percent by 2010, to $27.7 billion or 9 percent of sales. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-pharmaceutical-advertising.html Medications Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:00:04 EST news281616432 Scientists at the University of Liverpool have identified molecules in the blood that could help predict the risk of a patient developing liver injury eight hours after a paracetamol overdose. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-liver-injury-paracetamol-overdose-patients.html Medications Fri, 22 Feb 2013 08:20:01 EST news280742775 Icon PLC plans to buy the clinical trial services division of Cross Country Healthcare Inc. in a deal potentially worth more than $55 million, as the Irish company seeks to grow globally and improve its drug safety consulting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-icon-division-country-healthcare.html Other Mon, 04 Feb 2013 07:40:30 EST news279186025 Federal regulators say a Florida company has been marketing an untested inhaled formula as a flu remedy in violation of drug safety regulations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-fda-company-unapproved-flu-remedy.html Medications Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:02:44 EST news278683358 (HealthDay)—A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel met Thursday and Friday to discuss the fate of certain painkillers that contain the opioid known as hydrocodone, concluding in a vote in favor of moving hydrocodone combination products into the more restrictive Schedule II category of controlled substances. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-fda-panel-votes-tougher-restrictions.html Medications Sat, 26 Jan 2013 06:20:01 EST news278401574 Federal health advisors want new restrictions on hydrocodone, the highly addictive ingredient found in Vicodin and other widely abused prescription painkillers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-fda-panel-limits-hydrocodone-painkillers.html Medications Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:51:24 EST news278355073 (Medical Xpress)—In the first study to examine discussion of drug side effects on Internet message boards, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that breast cancer survivors taking the commonly prescribed adjuvant therapy known as aromatase inhibitors (AIs) often detailed in these forums troublesome symptoms resulting from the drugs, and they were apt to report discontinuing the treatment or switching to a different drug in the same class. The findings are published online this week in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety. With 2.5 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States today – the largest group of cancer survivors – researchers say the findings have broad implications for physician communication with patients about these issues to help to promote proper adherence and inform patient-to-patient discussion online. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-breast-cancer-message-boards-frequent.html Cancer Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:45:28 EST news277551921 (HealthDay)—People who take the prescription quit-smoking drug Chantix may be at higher risk for cardiovascular problems, and doctors should weigh the risks of the drug against it benefits, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-stop-smoking-drug-chantix-heart-fda.html Medications Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:10:01 EST news274618634 A system of 'automated design' for new drugs could help develop the complex therapies needed for many medical conditions while also improving drug safety and efficiency, new research from the University of Dundee has shown. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-automated-drug-discovery.html Medications Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:00:27 EST news274534514 (HealthDay)—The 32-mg, single intravenous dose of Zofran (ondansetron), an anti-nausea drug, is being removed from the market due to its potential to cause serious, even fatal, cardiac damage, according to a Drug Safety Communication (DSC) issued Dec. 4 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-fda-zofran-mg-dose.html Medications Thu, 06 Dec 2012 04:38:04 EST news273991036 Antibiotics are the first line of defense against many infections. But for some individuals, treatment with certain antibiotics can bring on a new set of health problems, including serious liver damage. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-puzzle-drug-induced-liver-injury.html Medical research Thu, 13 Sep 2012 11:31:41 EST news266754680 Ethical challenges are central to persistent "critical weaknesses" in the national system for ensuring drug safety, according to a commentary by former Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee members published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-experts-ethical-dilemmas-contribute-critical.html Medications Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:05:25 EST news264873911 French health authorities said Monday that nearly 8,000 French women had followed a government recommendation to have faulty breast implants that sparked a global health scare removed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-french-women-faulty-breast-implants.html Surgery Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:22:34 EST news258042148 India's Health Ministry said Thursday it was examining charges that the government's top drug regulatory agency had colluded with pharmaceutical firms to approve drugs without proper clinical trials. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-india-probes-violations-drugs.html Medications Thu, 10 May 2012 08:50:01 EST news255856758 (AP) -- China's State Food and Drug Administration has suspended the sale of 13 drugs that it says are believed to have been made with capsules that contain excessive chromium. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-china-sale-drugs-unsafe-capsules.html Medications Mon, 16 Apr 2012 03:59:04 EST news253767526 (AP) -- Dr. Richard Olney, an internationally renowned researcher who dedicated his life to finding a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease, has died after his own eight-year battle with the disease. He was 64. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-als-succumbs-disease.html Medical research Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:49:27 EST news247225741 Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have developed a novel strategy to protect the liver from drug-induced injury and improve associated drug safety. In their report receiving advance online publication in the journal Nature Biotechnology, the team reports that inhibition of a type of cell-to-cell communication can protect against the damage caused by liver-toxic drugs such as acetaminophen. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-drug-induced-liver-injury.html Medical research Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:20:01 EST news245852861 In a move aimed at bolstering current systems for assessing and monitoring drug safety, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have created a new method that combines multiple forms of widely available data to predict adverse drug reactions. Unlike current approaches, which rely on detecting evidence of drug safety issues as they accumulate over time in clinical databases, this new method may be able to identify issues years in advance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-approach-adverse-drug-reactions.html Medications Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:00:04 EST news243694936 (AP) -- The world should get ready for a new Made in China product - vaccines. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-china-big-entry-vaccine.html Medications Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:26:10 EST news241766760 Maximum doses of Crestor (rosuvastatin) or Lipitor (atorvastatin) are similarly effective in reversing the buildup of cholesterol plaques in the coronary artery walls (atherosclerosis) after 24 months of treatment, according to Cleveland Clinic researchers. The extent of reversal of atherosclerosis observed in this trial was unprecedented and was achieved with excellent drug safety. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-statin-drugs-similarly-effective-reversing.html Cardiology Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:42:21 EST news240576115 China said Friday it had busted a gang that produced and sold fake medicine -- some made of animal feed -- arresting 114 suspects and seizing more than 65 million counterfeit tablets. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-china-fake-medicine-racket.html Medications Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:00:01 EST news239623581 (Medical Xpress) -- An investigative team led by Simon Fraser University health sciences professor Benedikt Fischer has established that starkly increasing prescription of strong opioids (POs) is driving up dispensation of the painkillers in Canada. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-prescription-opioids.html Health Sat, 20 Aug 2011 05:03:16 EST news233035372