A new study has found that the type of progestin used in the Yaz birth control pill is associated with more blood clots than other forms of the hormone. The study is published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). Lawsuits have been filed around the U.S. by women who say…
If you take antidepressants such as fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac) early in your pregnancy, you may be doubling the risk that your newborn will be born with a heart defect, according to a new study. However, the vast majority of children born to women who take such antidepressants – known…
The Institute of Medicine will study a U.S. Food and Drug administration program that gives fast-track approval to certain medical devices. Consumer watchdog groups, lawmakers and others have criticized the FDA for using the accelerated approval process for more products than Congress originally intended, leading to problems with devices after…
Merck & Co. is paying claims by the families of more than 3,100 users of its Vioxx painkiller who died of heart attacks or strokes blamed on the drug, according to a law firm administering a $4.85 billion settlement fund. The fund will pay about 3,000 claims for heart attack…
New studies point to an increased risk of Paxil birth defects in babies whose mothers use the antidepressant during pregnancy. According to the findings of two studies, women who were taking Paxil during their first trimester were one and a half to two times more likely to have a baby…
Bayer AG, Germany’s largest drugmaker, said its Yaz contraceptive is part of an investigation by a Swiss health regulator into the death of a young woman who took the pill. The Swissmedic agency and an investigative judge are looking into the case of the woman, who died from the effects…
As Reported in the NY Times. Read the full article here. The oral contraceptives Yaz and Yasmin are the top-selling pharmaceutical line for Bayer HealthCare, largely as a result of marketing that presents them as much more than mere pregnancy prevention. Yaz, in particular, the top-selling birth control pill in…
In 2003, GSK initiated a retrospective analysis of women, dating back to 1995, who had taken antidepressants in the first trimester of their pregnancies and had given birth to children with major congenital malformations. The study found an association between Paxil and congenital malformations in mothers taking Paxil in the…
Switzerland’s medicines supervisor has said it will investigate allegations an oral contraceptive contributed to a fatal lung embolism in a woman. The embolism occurred ten months after the woman starting taking Yaz birth control pills produced by German firm Bayer. She died in mid-September. Swissmedic announced on Friday it would…
When he began getting weak, 61-year-old Ronald Beaver figured he might just be feeling his age. Eventually his problem was traced to a serious blood disorder caused by low levels of copper. It wasn’t until several weeks later — after the man from Tamarac, Fla., started getting daily doses of…