The number of teenagers taking prescription medications for type 2 diabetes at the end of 2005 was double the number from the beginning of 2002, according to the results of an extensive study of prescription medication use in children.  This…

In accordance with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Amendments Act of 2007, the federal agency has just launched a new web page devoted entirely to drug safety data that both the public and the medical community can access.  The…

Ask just about anyone if prescription drugs are safe to take because they receive approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before hitting the market, and most Americans will assure you the FDA only approves drugs after they’ve…

A four-year-long study of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and the inhaled anticholinergic drug, Spiriva, reveals patients are often able to breathe easier when Spiriva is added to a more conventional course of treatment but the drug does not…

Even though the chance of a child, age two to six, suffering a serious adverse event from ingesting one of the many over-the-counter (OTC) pediatric formulations of cough and cold medicines is only about one in 20 million doses, there…

Children in the United States take psychotropic medications at a rate three or more times higher than their counterparts in Europe, according to a multi-national study recently conducted on children in the US, Germany, and the Netherlands. In Europe, the…

In 2002, when the US Food and Drug Administraiton (FDA) approved the generic drug, ezetimibe, for its ability to lower cholesterol, the agency did so on the basis of just a few very small clinical trials of very short duration,…

Two drugs frequently prescribed to diabetics to aggressively lower blood sugar - pioglitazone and rosiglitazone - have been found to increase significantly the risk of developing heart failure. The two medications, which belong to a group of drugs known as…

The biotechnology research firm, Novavax, announced impressive results in a human trial of the vaccine it is developing for the H5N1, or Indonesian, strain of bird flu discovered in 2005.  This particular strain of bird flu has made 385 people…

The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill has been granted $3 million from the National Institute of Mental Health to undertake a five-year clinical trial of a low-dose contraceptive as treatment for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a severe…

Questions have arisen over the past several months as to the efficacy and safety of the popular cholesterol-lowering prescription drug, Vytorin, which is a combination of ezetimibe and simvastatin. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a timeline for…

Post-menopausal women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) gain quality of life in several areas, according to a British study called WISDOM (Women’s International Study of long Duration Oestrogen after Menopause). Studies in recent years have suggested the treatment comes…

During 2007, more than 11,000 women in the United States were diagnosed with cervical cancer. Another 3,600 women died from it. The recently introduced Gardasil vaccine is expected to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer but it is most effective…

In the past 10 years, the use of antidepressant drugs has tripled in the United States, where one in 10 women takes at least one antidepressant, according to National Center for Health Statistics’ 2004 Health United States report. A new,…