Public Citizen urges antibiotic warnings has now urged U.S. Food and Drug Administration to place a "black box" warning of tendon rupture on fluoroquinolones.
October 16, 2006 10:00

The consumer advocacy group also urged the FDA in a petition to require pharmacists to issued patient medication guides that carry the warning. "Tendon ruptures associated with these drugs continue to occur at a disturbing rate but could be prevented if doctors and patients were more aware of early warning signals, such as the onset of tendon pain, and switched to other antibiotics," said Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. "The FDA must act and require black box warnings and patient information guides." Fluoroquinolones include Bayer's Cipro, Aventis' Penetrex, Bristol-Myers Squibb's Tequin, Ortho-McNeil's Levaquin and Merck's Noroxin. (Pharma Live)

BMS has problems with Tequin
October 17, 2006 09:59

Last year the U.S. Attorney in New Jersey forced the company to comply with a deferred prosecution agreement after an investigation into $2.5 billion worth of channel stuffing which is a practice that involves overloading wholesalers with drugs to meet quarterly sales targets. (Read More)

Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) is a dangerous health condition and is completely preventable.
October 18, 2006 09:58

If you have Type 1 diabetes, high blood glucose can lead to DKA. When the body cannot use sugar for energy because of lack of insulin, the body breaks down fat for energy and ketones are made. Ketones are the acids or toxins produced when blood glucose rises in the absence of insulin. Large amounts of ketones in the blood cause the life-threatening problem called diabetic ketoacidosis. When high levels of ketones are in the blood, the ketones spill into the urine, just as sugar does. Your whole body becomes too acid: in other words, you have acidosis (BC Health)