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Thalomid gets FDA approval to treat multiple myeloma

Thalomid (thalidomide) has been given a new lease of life following the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the drug to be used in combination with the steroid dexamethasone for the treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

29 May 2006

Herceptin plus hormonal therapy holds breast cancer in check

Drug giant Roche believes it has proof that its cancer drug Herceptin when used in combination with hormonal therapy increases the time that some breast-cancer patients live without the cancer progressing.

29 May 2006

Misuse of ADHD drugs sends thousands each year to seek emergency hospital treatment

Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have estimated that problems with the drugs used to treat attention deficit disorders force as many as 3,100 people to seek emergency hospital treatment each year.

25 May 2006

EU ruling on breast drug Herceptin will end 'post code lottery' in Britain

The European Union has approved the use of the breast cancer drug Herceptin for use in patients with an early stage of the aggressive HER2-positive type of breast cancer.

24 May 2006

Arthritis drug wins approval for use in children with Crohn's disease

The Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. has given approval for the drug Remicade for use in children with active Crohn's disease(CD), a chronic and debilitating condition.

21 May 2006

Plan B - Lancet has a go at the FDA

A well known international medical journal has called on the acting FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to adopt an independent stance and follow the best judgment of it's expert staff and scientific advisers, even when that means incurring the wrath of patients' groups, industry, Congress, and even the White House.

21 May 2006

New drug for Parkinson's gets FDA approval

The Food and Health Administration in the U.S. has granted approval for a new drug to treat patients with Parkinson's disease.

21 May 2006

New antibiotic works against superbugs

A new antibiotic with the ability to fight drug-resistant superbugs has been developed by researchers at drug company Merck's research laboratories in New Jersey.

21 May 2006

FDA gives tentative approval to new generic AIDS drug

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the tentative approval of generic abacavir sulfate tablets manufactured by Aurobindo Pharma LTD. of Hyderabad, India.

18 May 2006

FDA approves Azilect for the treatment of Parkinson's

The Food and Drug Administration today approved Azilect (rasagiline), a new molecular entity, for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

17 May 2006

Vaccine against cervical cancer on track for FDA approval

According to the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. an experimental vaccine which prevents cervical cancer appears to be effective and has no major safety concerns.

17 May 2006

OK from the FDA for synthetic marijuana drug

Despite saying quite recently that it does not support the use of marijuana for medical purposes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given marketing approval for a drug which is a synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana.

17 May 2006

FDA warns of suicide risk with Paxil

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S., has notified healthcare professionals in the States and the UK that the antidepressant Paxil produced by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), appears to raise the risk of suicide in young adults.

15 May 2006

Chantix new quit smoking drug approved

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given approval for the sale of the first smoking cessation drug in almost ten years.

11 May 2006

Abortion pill in trouble again

Clostridium sordellii is a rare germ that has killed four women who took the abortion pill RU-486 and has also been implicated in the deaths of at least 11 other women following childbirth or miscarriage.

11 May 2006

Lilly to extend patient assistance programs for Medicare patients

Eli Lilly and Company has announced that it will be extending its existing patient assistance program, LillyAnswers, through the end of this year to qualifying patients currently participating in the program, to help bridge the gap in coverage for people who need Lilly medicines, but are not yet enrolled in Medicare Part D.

11 May 2006

Lilly submits Cymbalta NDA for generalized anxiety disorder

Eli Lilly and Company has announced the recent submission of a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Cymbalta (duloxetine HCl) for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder.

10 May 2006

Advocacy group has win in terminally ill fight for access to experimental drugs

The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) and the advocacy group Abigail Alliance, have been successful in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

3 May 2006

Current US drug safety system is moving toward a delay in drug approval

In the May 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and Chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, analyzes the limitations of the current system of drug-safety monitoring and proposes a solution that addresses overly aggressive early marketing practices

3 May 2006

New drug to treat rare Pompe disease gets FDA approval

The Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. has given approval for the first drug to treat a rare, debilitating muscle disease that can kill infants within a year.

1 May 2006