Category Archives: Drug Side Effects

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - A study in rats and monkeys suggests an experimental Merck & Co sleep drug may help induce sleep without causing the memory loss and attention problems sometimes seen in the commonly used drugs Ambien and Lunesta, company researchers said on Wednesday. Experiments in animals suggest Merck's sleep drug Suvorexant, now before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, may avoid these side effects, the company said. Insomnia affects about 10 percent of U.S. adults, and roughly a third of these individuals take drugs to help them sleep. Most sleep aids, including Sanofi's Ambien or Sunovion Pharmaceuticals' Lunesta, act on a key neurotransmitter in the brain called GABA. "These treatments work by forcing the brain to go to sleep," said study leader Jason Uslaner of Merck in an interview on the website of Science Translational Medicine, which published the study. GABA receptors are important to many brain regions, including those important for cognition, which is likely why common sleep aids can cause memory loss and attention problems. "When you hit those, you don't just hit the sleep system," John Renger, executive director and head of neruoscience basic research at Merck and one of the study's authors, … Continue reading →

Bottle of tablets (Ben Richardson) (Reuters) - A study in rats and monkeys suggests an experimental Merck & Co. sleep drug may help induce sleep without causing the memory loss and attention problems sometimes seen in the commonly used drugs Ambien and Lunesta, company researchers said on Wednesday. Experiments in animals suggest Merck's sleep drug Suvorexant, now before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, may avoid these side effects, the company said. Insomnia affects about 10 percent of U.S. adults, and roughly a third of these individuals take drugs to help them sleep. Most sleep aids, including Sanofi's Ambien or Sunovion Pharmaceuticals' Lunesta, act on a key neurotransmitter in the brain called GABA. "These treatments work by forcing the brain to go to sleep," said study leader Jason Uslaner of Merck in an interview on the website of Science Translational Medicine, which published the study. GABA receptors are important to many brain regions, including those important for cognition, which is likely why common sleep aids can cause memory loss and attention problems. "When you hit those, you don't just hit the sleep system," John Renger, executive director and head of neruoscience basic research at Merck and one of the study's … Continue reading →

Big Pharma Drug Side Effects Spoof By: 1beinki … Continue reading →

Most people who stop taking cholesterol-lowering statins - because of side effects or for another reason - are able to restart the same drug or a similar one without lasting problems, a new study suggests. That's important because for people who need statins, quitting them for good increases the chance of serious heart problems, researchers said, so doctors and patients should think carefully before letting milder reactions lead them to give up on the drugs altogether. "It's really common that patients hear from their friends or read on the Internet that there are all these side effects and they say, I'll never take a statin again,'" said Dr. Alexander Turchin, who worked on the new study at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. But most side effects are "not an absolute contraindication," he told Reuters Health. "There might be a way around it, so it's really worth giving it at least one more try." About one-quarter of U.S. adults age 45 and older take statins to protect against heart attacks and strokes. The drugs are especially recommended for people with diabetes or a history of cardiovascular problems. They run anywhere from $11 to more than $200 per month. Side effects … Continue reading →

Denver, CO (PRWEB) April 03, 2013 The prescription drug safety advocates at DrugRisk.com are alerting patients of new information on the site for those taking the blood thinner Pradaxa. A new study from The University of North Carolina suggests the atrial fibrillation drug may increase the chances of contracting some viral infections****. DrugRisk was created to improve the safety of those taking prescription drugs by sharing the latest warnings, recalls, studies and legal news. Patients can see if others are experiencing similar side effects and decide if they need legal advice. Experts have disagreed over whether Pradaxa, launched in 2010 to prevent strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation, causes higher risks of internal bleeding. The FDA recently advised that Pradaxa is no more dangerous than traditional blood thinner warfarin*. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices, however, ranked blood thinners like Pradaxa among the most dangerous drugs, and warned that patients suffering Pradaxa bleeding are almost 5 times as likely to die than those with bleeding from warfarin**. Researchers with the University of Illinois at Chicago also recently warned that the data used by the FDA may be flawed, and the risk for bleeding from Pradaxa may be higher than previously … Continue reading →

People who quit may do better with different type or dose of cholesterol-lowering drugs WebMD News from HealthDay By Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter MONDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) -- Many people who quit taking their cholesterol-lowering statin drugs because of side effects can successfully try again, a new study suggests. Researchers found that of more than 100,000 Boston-area adults who started a statin drug, 17 percent stopped taking it because of side effects -- most often, muscle aches. But within a year, more than half gave statins another chance, and most -- 90 percent -- were able to stick with it. Experts said the findings, reported in the April 2 issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, show that people need not abandon statins if a potential side effect crops up. In some cases, the problem may not be caused by the drug at all, said senior researcher Dr. Alexander Turchin, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "Muscle pain can happen with statins," he said, "but it can also have many other causes." In other cases, Turchin said, people are having a real side effect, but might do better with a lower dose or with a different statin. … Continue reading →

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 02, 2013 The birth control safety advocates at DrugRisk.com are announcing new information on the site for women who have taken the drugs Yaz or Yasmin. The manufacturer, Bayer, will now compensate certain patients who allege gallbladder injuries, in addition to the ongoing settlements for blood clots*. The goal of DrugRisk is to improve patient safety by providing the latest warnings, recalls, studies and litigation news. Visitors can learn if others have experienced similar side effects and decide if they need legal help to join current litigation. The resource center has learned that Bayer will designate $24 million to compensate patients who allege gallbladder injuries after taking Yaz or Yasmin*. While this could affect as many as 8,000 patients, payouts are only estimated at $2,000 to $3,000*. Thousands more have filed a Yaz lawsuit alleging blood clot injuries, which were consolidated to a special federal Multi-District Litigation court in Illinois. The case is known as Yasmin and Yaz (Drospirenone) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2100, Southern District Illinois). Experts with the British Medical Journal and FDA have alerted patients that birth control pills containing drospirenone, like Yaz and Yasmin, can increase … Continue reading →

Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Statins Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology;Cholesterol Article Date: 02 Apr 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for: Statin Side Effects Are Usually Overcome The authors believe that the majority of statin-related side effects are bearable and probably have other causes. It is possible that they may be specific to the individual statin medication, rather than the entire drug class, they added. This is important, because quitting statins forever can significantly raise a patient's risk of serious heart problems. Patients and their doctors need to think carefully before changing their prescription program. In a previous study, researchers at the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that an estimated 75% of patients on statins report symptoms of muscle pain, which can lead to problems with adherence (compliance). The researchers in this latest study explained, as background information, that patients often give up taking their statins because of the side effects. However, studies on why this occurs have been limited. Dr. Alexander Turchin and team set out to determine why people discontinued their statin therapy, as well as listing the type of … Continue reading →

By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff Statins have a great track record for lowering cholesterol and helping heart disease patients live longer, but about half of those taking statins stop taking the drugs at some point -- often due to side effects. Now a Brigham and Womens Hospital study suggests that more than 90 percent of patients who go back on statins dont have the same troubles the second time around. What we found is that if someone has to go off of a statin due to side effects like muscle aches, it may be worth trying the drug again, especially if a person has had a previous heart attack or stroke or has established heart disease, said Dr. Alexander Turchin, the senior author of the study and an endocrinologist at the Brigham. Those with diabetes or those who have very elevated cholesterol levels -- a low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol level of greater than 160 milligrams per deciliter -- should also seriously consider re-starting a statin if they had previous mild side effects, because theyre also at increased risk of having a future heart attack or stroke, Turchin recommended. He and his colleagues examined electronic medical records from nearly 108,000 … Continue reading →

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Most people who stop taking cholesterol-lowering statins - because of side effects or for another reason - are able to restart the same drug or a similar one without lasting problems, a new study suggests. That's important because for people who need statins, quitting them for good increases the chance of serious heart problems, researchers said, so doctors and patients should think carefully before letting milder reactions lead them to give up on the drugs altogether. "It's really common that patients hear from their friends or read on the Internet that there are all these side effects and they say, I'll never take a statin again,'" said Dr. Alexander Turchin, who worked on the new study at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. But most side effects are "not an absolute contraindication," he told Reuters Health. "There might be a way around it, so it's really worth giving it at least one more try." About one-quarter of U.S. adults age 45 and older take statins to protect against heart attacks and strokes. The drugs are especially recommended for people with diabetes or a history of cardiovascular problems. They run anywhere from $11 … Continue reading →