Darvon and Darvocet are medications that have been prescribed to relieve mild to moderate pain for many years. Propoxyphene is the active ingredient in these medications and also the generic form. There has been concern over the safety of these drugs for quite some time. The FDA had received requests to have these medications removed from U.S. markets in 1978 and again in 2006 due to ongoing concerns regarding their safety. In 2009 an advisory committee met …
YAZ, Yasmin, and Ocella are birth control pills manufactured by Bayer Pharmaceuticals. Ocella is the generic form of Yasmin and is manufactured by Barr Laboratories. What makes these three medications different from other birth control pills is the addition of a new progestin called drospirenone. It has now been shown that drospirenone causes an increase and imbalance of the potassium levels in the body. Some of the side effects which have been noted by individuals taking …
On March 4, 2011, the FDA issued a safety alert regarding birth defects and the medication Topamax and its generic form, topiramate. Topamax is prescribed for epileptics as an anticonvulsant medication that can help with certain types of seizures. The medication can also be prescribed for prevention of migraine headaches. The FDA alert was issued as a result of new data reported to the FDA which shows a significant increase in the development of a cleft palate and/or cleft lip …
Uncontrolled bleeding and possible death. Pradaxa. This drug came onto the market in October 2010. It was designed to be the best blood thinning medication on the market for prevention of blood clots following certain medical procedures. Older blood thinning medications such as warfarin or coumadin require consistent monitoring of the clotting factor of a patient’s blood and adjustment in the dosage of the medication depending on the test results. The pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, maker of Pradaxa, …
Recent studies have shown that there is a clear link between Fosamax usage and femoral shaft fractures and osteonecrosis. The irony is that bisphosphonates such as Fosamax, which were originally prescribed to prevent bone decay, may actually be causing bone decay like femoral shaft fractures and osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ). In 2006 the American Association of Endodontists felt compelled to publish a position statement about the effect of bisphosphonates on the jaw. It stated, …
