Medications/Drugs News Headlines

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government health officials are investigating cases involving patients who suffered complications after being injected with potentially contaminated medications made by a Tennessee specialty pharmacy.

By Toni Clarke (Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it has received seven reports of illnesses in patients who took steroid injections compounded by a pharmacy in Tennessee. The FDA said full clinical information about the patients is still being gathered, but it suggested some of the problems were …

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk said it could launch obesity treatment liraglutide in the United States by the end of next year and rejected some analysts' doubts over the medicine's commercial potential. The world's biggest insulin producer is hoping the treatment for severe obesity will help to at …

By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Representative Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, on Thursday became the latest lawmaker to propose legislation that would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration greater regulatory authority over drug compounding. U.S. lawmakers, responding to a deadly meningitis outbreak …

By Ransdell Pierson NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson said it plans to seek approvals for 11 new drugs by 2017, including a treatment for patients with depression who have failed to benefit from standard medications. The intranasal drug, called esketamine, is closely related to a pediatric anesthetic …

By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - British pharmaceutical company BTG announced two deals on Thursday that it said could create an interventional medicine business with potential sales of $1 billion. Chief Executive Louise Makin told Reuters the deals would more than double BTG's revenues in the fast-growing market of targeting …

By Katie Schubert OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning on Wednesday filed a petition to revoke the license of the only nurse at a controversial abortion clinic in the state for allegedly providing substandard care and improperly administering drugs. ...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A 33-year-old Polish man received a face transplant just three weeks after being disfigured in a workplace accident, in what his doctors said Wednesday is the fastest time frame to date for such an operation. It was Poland's first face transplant.

By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Merck & Co's experimental insomnia drug moved a step closer to U.S. approval on Wednesday after a panel of medical experts said it is effective and safe at lower doses. The advisory panel was convened to help the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decide whether to approve the drug, …

By Jessica Dye NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday unanimously approved legislation that would increase federal oversight for companies that compound and sell sterile drugs across state lines. The proposed legislation was introduced in response to a meningitis outbreak last fall that killed more than …

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Daily vitamin C supplements don't lower uric acid as much as drugs used to treat high levels of the acid that's responsible for gout, says a new study from New Zealand. "It's not that the vitamin C didn't reduce the uric acid level at all, it's just so small that it wouldn't …

The largest study to date confirms that ketamine — a “club drug” that is also legally used as an anesthetic — could be a quick and effective way to relieve depression.

By Bill Berkrot NEW YORK (Reuters) - Little known biotechnology company Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc has quietly built a large pipeline of experimental cancer treatments that it aims to deliver at a fraction of the cost spent by larger rivals. That could translate into lower-cost treatments for large unmet needs, such …

(Reuters) - Pfizer Inc said on Wednesday it will spin off its majority stake in animal health business Zoetis Inc to shareholders by allowing them to swap Pfizer stock for Zoetis shares at a 7 percent discount. Pfizer, the largest U.S. drugmaker, sold Zoetis shares in an initial public offering in February that raised $2.2 …

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A 33-year-old Polish man received a life-saving total face transplant just three weeks after being disfigured in a workplace accident, in what his doctors said Wednesday is the fastest timeframe to date for such an operation.

(Reuters) - Oncolytics Biotech Inc said preliminary data from a mid-stage trial showed that its cancer drug, Reolysin, met the main goal of reducing the size of tumors in patients with metastatic melanoma, a type of skin cancer. Shares of the Calgary-based company rose as much as 11 percent to C$3.14 on the Toronto Stock …

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has signed an antibiotics development deal worth up to $200 million with GlaxoSmithKline to tackle the dual threats of drug resistance and bioterrorism. The collaboration, the first of its kind between Washington and a drug company, will allow funding to move around …

By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - A new wave of medicines that tap the power of the immune system to fight cancer could become the biggest drug class in history, with potential sales of $35 billion a year. That bullish sales forecast by analysts at U.S. bank Citigroup highlights the growing excitement surrounding so-called …

(Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc said it has entered into a $5 billion share repurchase agreement with Goldman Sachs Group Inc, as the drug giant looks to prop up shareholder value in face of stiff competition from makers of less-costly generics. Under the accelerated share repurchase agreement (ASR), Merck has agreed to repurchase …

By Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) - A new type of asthma drug meant to attack the underlying causes of the respiratory disease slashed episodes by 87 percent in a mid-stage trial, making it a potential game changer for patients with moderate to severe disease, researchers said on Tuesday. "Overall, these are the most exciting …

By Jason McLure (Reuters) - Vermont on Monday became the fourth U.S. state to end legal penalties for doctors who prescribe medication to terminally ill patients seeking to end their own lives. The law, which includes a number of safeguards over the next three years as the state adapts, marked the first time a U.S. state …

(Reuters) - Pfizer Inc, which has been on a hot streak with three recent approvals of cancer drugs, stumbled on Monday, saying it was halting a late-stage trial of a drug for aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma after independent monitors found it was not likely to improve survival. Pfizer said it would continue to study the …

By Padraic Halpin and Jessica Toonkel DUBLIN/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Royalty Pharma raised its hostile bid for Elan to $12.50 per share and threatened to withdraw the bid if Elan shareholders approve a series of defensive transactions announced by the Irish drug firm. Royalty Pharma, which buys royalty streams of patented …