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ProPublica studied five different specialties to compare the rates by which doctors who receive money from big pharma prescribe typically more expensive brand name medication, versus doctors who haven’t taken money from pharma. The analysis found that doctors who receive $5,000 or more from pharmaceutical companies in a given year all prescribe more brand name medication.

DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. and its parent company, Johnson and Johnson (J&J), were found liable by a Texas jury for injuries resulting from its DePuy Pinnacle defective products. DePuy designed and manufactured the DePuy Pinnacle stem and DePuy Ultamet liners, which when used together, form a cobalt and chromium “metal on metal” hip design.

Endo International PLC disclosed it is officially closing its women’s health division and stopping the manufacture and sale of transvaginal mesh products. Endo disclosed this after release of its quarterly results on Monday, stating that it will close down the mesh line purchased from American Medical Systems (AMS) by March 31, 2016. Endo failed to find a buyer for the product line (now known as Astora Women’s Health).

Owensboro, KY: E-Cigarette (E-Cig) devices frequently utilize lithium-ion batteries with basic safety mechanisms. Due to this reports of failures have been occurring at increasing rates. Watch this video of a man’s pants exploding and catching on fire when his e-cig battery explodes

A jury presiding over the case of a women who died at the age of 62 from ovarian cancer found Johnson & Johnson liable for her death. The jury verdict included $10 million in damages plus an additional $62 million in punitive damages. The jury agreed that Johnson & Johnson, creator of Shower to Shower and Baby Powder products, had hidden the risks of talcum powder and links to ovarian cancer for decades. Ms. Fox had used talc powder products for 35 years.

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has labeled Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) devices as “high risk”, after thousands of injuries had been reported. The FDA noted more than 4,000 reports of adverse events or complications associated with transvaginal surgical mesh for POP or Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) repair from 2005 to 2010.

FDA published a warning on the risks of testosterone therapy1. This warning prompted news organizations to cover stories about these new risks, and now prominent consumer productions agencies are calling for changes to the warning labels of testosterone therapy products2.

An article published in November in BioMed Central discovered serious differences between studies funded by pharmaceutical companies selling testosterone therapy drugs, and those that were independent of pharmaceutical companies pushing the drugs.

Earlier this year, a group of private companies and institutions released a new mobile application in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration Center for Devices and Radiologic Health.

According to a recent review of FDA adverse event reports, the FDA has received over 1000 reports from individuals reporting unexplained diagnoses of bladder cancer after Actos use. This comes after several prominent scientific reports linked Actos use to an increased likelihood of developing bladder cancer.