Category Archives: Drug Side Effects

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The toxic side effects of an experimental cancer drug from Onyx Pharmaceuticals may outweigh its benefits for patients with a type of blood cancer, federal health regulators said Monday. The Food and Drug Administration warned that patients in a company study of the drug had a high rate of heart and lung side effects, some which were fatal. The FDA posted its review of carfilzomib online ahead of a meeting Wednesday, where its panel of cancer experts will recommend whether the drug should be approved. Despite the negative tone of the review, some analysts said they expect the FDA's panel of outside experts to take a more favorable view. FDA panels are mainly comprised of practicing physicians from leading universities and hospitals. BMO Capital Markets analyst Jim Birchenough said he expects "panel members to be more constructive toward the carfilzomib data package." Birchenough recommended buying the stock, in a note to investors. Shares of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc., based in San Francisco, fell $1.90 to close at $44.08 Monday after rising as high as $46.99 earlier in the session. They are near their 52-week high of $47.80 in late April. Onyx has … Continue reading →

The toxic side effects of an experimental cancer drug from Onyx Pharmaceuticals may outweigh its benefits for patients with a type of blood cancer, federal health regulators said Monday. The Food and Drug Administration warned that patients in a company study of the drug had a high rate of heart and lung side effects, some of which were fatal. The FDA posted its review of carfilzomib online ahead of a meeting Wednesday, where its panel of cancer experts will recommend whether the drug should be approved. Despite the negative tone of the review, some analysts said they expect the FDA's panel of outside experts to take a more favorable view. FDA panels are mainly comprised of practicing physicians from leading universities and hospitals. BMO Capital Markets analyst Jim Birchenough said he expects "panel members to be more constructive toward the carfilzomib data package." Birchenough recommended buying the stock, in a note to investors. Shares of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc., based in San Francisco, fell $1.90 to close at $44.08 Monday after rising as high as $46.99 earlier in the session. They are near their 52-week high of $47.80 in late April. Onyx has asked the FDA to approve carfilzomib as a … Continue reading →

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The toxic side effects of an experimental cancer drug from Onyx Pharmaceuticals may outweigh its benefits for patients with a type of blood cancer, federal health regulators said Monday. The Food and Drug Administration warned that patients in a company study of the drug had a high rate of heart and lung side effects, some which were fatal. The FDA posted its review of carfilzomib online ahead of a meeting Wednesday, where its panel of cancer experts will recommend whether the drug should be approved. Despite the negative tone of the review, some analysts said they expect the FDA's panel of outside experts to take a more favorable view. FDA panels are mainly comprised of practicing physicians from leading universities and hospitals. BMO Capital Markets analyst Jim Birchenough said he expects "panel members to be more constructive toward the carfilzomib data package." Birchenough recommended buying the stock, in a note to investors. Shares of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc., based in San Francisco, fell $1.90 to close at $44.08 Monday after rising as high as $46.99 earlier in the session. They are near their 52-week high of $47.80 in late April. Onyx has asked the FDA to approve carfilzomib … Continue reading →

USING magnets to target cancer drug treatment can help reduce serious side effects, Australian scientists have discovered. The side-effects of chemotherapy occur because the drugs attack healthy cells as well as cancers. But a team from the University of Sydney, working with researchers in Scotland, have discovered a way to insert a tiny iron oxide core inside an anti-cancer drug. They then used magnets to guide the drug to the area where it was needed. The discovery has been published in the international scientific journal, Inorganica Chimica Acta. Advertisement: Story continues below Dr Nial Wheate, from the University of Sydney's faculty of pharmacy, said it could mean fewer side effects for cancer patients. ''Many of the side-effects associated with chemotherapy occur because the drugs spread throughout the body, killing healthy organs as well as cancers," he said. "This technology could greatly reduce or even eliminate the severe side effects that people associate with chemotherapy such as hair loss, nausea, vomiting, low red blood cells and an increased risk of infection." When the team placed a magnet under a plate containing cancer cells, the drug destroyed only those cells growing near the magnet, leaving the others unharmed. ''We can potentially direct … Continue reading →

Public release date: 15-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Jason Socrates Bardi jason.bardi@ucsf.edu 415-502-6397 University of California - San Francisco A new approach to drug design, pioneered by a group of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Mt. Sinai, New York, promises to help identify future drugs to fight cancer and other diseases that will be more effective and have fewer side effects. Rather than seeking to find magic bulletschemicals that specifically attack one gene or protein involved in one particular part of a disease processthe new approach looks to find "magic shotguns" by sifting through the known universe of chemicals to find the few special molecules that broadly disrupt the whole diseases process. "We've always been looking for magic bullets," said Kevan Shokat, PhD, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the Chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at UCSF. "This is a magic shotgunit doesn't inhibit one target but a set of targetsand that gives us a much, much better ability to stop the cancer without causing as many side effects." Described in the June 7, 2012 issue of the journal Nature, the magic shotgun approach has already yielded … Continue reading →

A decade after ecstasy was hailed for its ability to enhance treatment of Parkinson's disease, an Australian scientist has managed to modify the drug, eliminating its harmful effects. The development means the illicit drug could after all be used to reduce the side-effects of the most common treatment, levodopa. Levodopa restores movement in Parkinson's patients but also causes jerky, involuntary movements commonly associated with the disease. At the beginning of the century a former professional stuntman proved ecstasy could improve his treatment but doctors warned it had no therapeutic value because it affected users' moods and killed brain cells. University of West Australia Associate Professor Matthew Piggott said his team's research, in collaboration with experts in Toronto, had managed to dissociate the positive and negative effects of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as ecstasy. "By changing the structure of the drug we have a new compound structurally related to MDMA but ... not the other effects of MDMA that are well characterised and the reason why it's abused," Professor Piggott said. The new compound is called UWA-101 and trials on rats have shown it is unlikely to be psychoactive or toxic to brain cells. "UWA-101 is even more effective than MDMA … Continue reading →

Readmore: Local, News, Munnsville, Miami, Bath Salts, Drugs, Illegal Drugs, Poison Control, Violence, Pamela Mccarthy Scene in Munnsville where police say a woman was high on bath salts and assaulted her own child before she died following a Taser shock. SYRACUSE -- Bath salts are synthetic drug that users can take just about any way they please eating them, injecting them, snorting or smoking them. But this now-illegal designer drug acts like a dangerous combination of LSD, PCP and cocaine. "Essentially, it's a drug-induced psychosis, said Clinical Toxicologist Dr. Alexander Garrard from SUNY Upstate Medical University. So they're not who they think they are. They're acting very different from themselves. They don't even recollect what happened to them. They blank out or black out, if you will. And that's maybe perhaps related to some of the cannibalistic behavior. It's really reducing them to primal instincts." The cannibalistic behavior resulting from bath salts has been making startling headlines.The firstcame over Memorial Day weekend when a homeless Miami, Florida man had his face devoured by a man high on bath salts.Another incidentin Miami happened on Monday when a half-naked man approached a three-year-old girl on a playground for sex. Police say the … Continue reading →

Dear Pharmacist: Ive recently developed minor numbness and tingling in my hands. Could it be a side effect my medications? Im scared of what else could cause this. S.L., Santa Rosa, Calif. A: Oh boy, l love talking about side effects. Obviously, consult your doctor to rule out other causes, but the simple answer is Yes! Most practitioners today are not aware that side effects are often the result of drug nutrient depletions, what I call the drug mugging effect. Im happy to say this concept has gained traction in the medical community, partly because Ive been hammering it in the media for 13 years and also because I published a book on it called Drug Muggers. Theres another layer to consider. We all have unique genetic SNPs (pronounced snips) in our DNA code that cause us to process medications, foods and nutrients a little differently from one another. For example, most autistic children and 20 percent of the general population are poor methylators and thus, need a nutritional helping hand, usually folic acid; vitamin B6, B12 (methylcobalamin), and SAMe are useful, too. These deficiencies may cause numbness and tingling in your extremities, and a host of other plaguing disorders. … Continue reading →

Cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis will continue to increase unless scientists develop more effective medicines with fewer side effects. This has emerged as one of the key issues at the third South African tuberculosis conference, which opened last night (Tues) in Durban. At present, people with drug-resistant TB face almost two years' of treatment, including a daily injection for the first six months. Despite this punishing regimen, less than half the cases of drug-resistant TB were cured in South Africa last year, according to the World Health Organisation. A number of patients also stop treatment because they cannot tolerate the side effects. "Treatment for drug-resistant TB is ineffective. It is too long, there are significant side-effects and it is expensive," according to Dr Helen Cox of Medicins sans Frontieres. "Aside from the daily injections that are very painful, 30 percent of people with drug-resistant TB develop hearing loss that is irreversible as a side-effect of the drugs," said Cox. "If someone starts going deaf a few weeks into treatment, what do we do? They need to continue with their treatment, but this means they will either be deaf or dead. This highlights the urgent need for new drugs." The Treatment Action … Continue reading →

Deaf or dead? Better drugs needed to stop drug-resistant TB 13.06.2012 Kerry Cullinan This has emerged as one of the key issues at the third South African tuberculosis conference, which opened last night (Tues) in Durban. At present, people with drug-resistant TB face almost two years of treatment, including a daily injection for the first six months. Despite this punishing regimen, less than half the cases of drug-resistant TB were cured in South Africa last year, according to the World Health Organisation. A number of patients also stop treatment because they cannot tolerate the side effects. Treatment for drug-resistant TB is ineffective. It is too long, there are significant side-effects and it is expensive, according to Dr Helen Cox of Medicins sans Frontieres. Aside from the daily injections that are very painful, 30 percent of people with drug-resistant TB develop hearing loss that is irreversible as a side-effect of the drugs, said Cox. If someone starts going deaf a few weeks into treatment, what do we do? They need to continue with their treatment, but this means they will either be deaf or dead. This highlights the urgent need for new drugs. The Treatment Action Campaign, Section27 and Oxfam, called … Continue reading →