Author: Matthew Perrone
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US experts back marijuana-based drug for childhood seizures
WASHINGTON — A medicine made from the marijuana plant moved one step closer to U.S. approval Thursday after federal health advisers endorsed it for the treatment of severe seizures in children with epilepsy. If the Food and Drug Administration follows the group’s recommendation, GW Pharmaceuticals’ syrup would become the first drug derived from the cannabis…
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Marijuana-based drug gets positive review from US agency
WASHINGTON — A closely watched medicine made from the marijuana plant reduces seizures in children with severe forms of epilepsy and warrants approval in the United States, health officials said Tuesday. British drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals is seeking permission to sell its purified form of an ingredient found in cannabis — one that doesn’t get users…
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Big Tobacco’s anti-smoking ads begin after decade of delay
WASHINGTON — Decades after they were banned from the airwaves, Big Tobacco companies return to prime-time television this weekend — but not by choice. Under court order, the tobacco industry for the first time will be forced to advertise the deadly, addictive effects of smoking, more than 11 years after a judge ruled that the…
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US regulators approve first digital pill to track patients
WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators have approved the first drug with a sensor that alerts doctors when the medication has been taken, offering a new way of monitoring patients but also raising privacy concerns. The digital pill approved Monday combines two existing products: the former blockbuster psychiatric medication Abilify — long used to treat schizophrenia and…
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Is antibacterial soap safe: A decades-old question
t’s a chemical that’s been in U.S. households for more than 40 years, from the body wash in your bathroom shower to the knives on your kitchen counter to the bedding in your baby’s bassinet. But federal health regulators are now deciding whether triclosan – the germ-killing ingredient found in an estimated 75 percent of…
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Ex-Army surgeon under investigation
WASHINGTON – An influential Republican Senator is investigating a former Army surgeon who the Army says forged signatures and falsified data in a study touting the benefits of an implant from Medtronic.Sen. Charles Grassley has long been a critic of the drug industry’s influence over physicians, but increasingly the Iowa senator has turned his scrutiny…
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Potential blockbuster diabetes drug appears safe, FDA says
WASHINGTON – Federal health officials said Monday a potential blockbuster diabetes medication from Bristol-Myers Squibb appears free from heart-related side effects that have plagued similar treatments. Despite low rates of heart attacks and related problems in testing, the Food and Drug Administration will still ask an outside panel to scrutinize the company’s safety data at…