Unsafe Drugs & Medical Devices

August 7th, 2013

Last July, we posted our first article on the potential dangers of the NuvaRing method of birth control (manufactured by Merck) a vaginal ring that patients wear for a period of about three weeks, during which time it slowly releases hormones into the bloodstream. It …

July 31st, 2013

This blog has published many posts that mention the United Stated Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and we have on a few occasions taken the position that the organization often fails in its duty to protect consumers from corporations whose goal is the bottom line …

July 10th, 2013

The pharmaceutical industry in the United States is massive. According to a report from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, Americans spent $325.8 billion on prescription drugs last year alone, which totals about $898 per person. While these figures may be staggering on their own, …

June 26th, 2013

One of our past articles on the da Vinci surgical device cited the Chicago Tribune, which quoted Johns Hopkins surgeon and professor Dr. Marty Makary as saying, “The robot is the symbol of the current American health care marketplace–rapid widespread adoption with little to no …

June 5th, 2013

Since October 2012, we have periodically published articles about the fungal meningitis outbreak that began at the New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Massachusetts (see our posts titled, “Fungal Meningitis Linked to Tainted Steroid Injections” and “More Compounding Pharmacies Shut Down in Fungal Meningitis Scare” …

April 17th, 2013

An outbreak of fungal meningitis, which began last year and has been traced back to a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts, has killed more than 50 people in 20 states and affected nearly 700 others (according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This company, …

April 10th, 2013

About a year ago, we posted a blog titled “Depakote Linked to Neural Tube Defects,” which detailed a possible link between expectant mothers taking this medication and defects like spina bifida, cleft palate, atrial septal defect (a hole in the heart), anencephaly and encephaloceles in …

February 13th, 2013

On January 16 of this year, this blog published a post about an outbreak of fungal meningitis that has killed 39 people and infected 650 more. Inspectors have traced this event, which has hit the states of Michigan and Tennessee particularly hard, to a pharmaceutical …

January 2nd, 2013

Citron Research, led by noted stock market analyst Andrew Left, has recently published a report on its website predicting that the stock price of Intuitive Surgical, the company behind the da Vinci surgical robot, will drop by more than half in the coming 18 months. …

November 21st, 2012

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) is a serious skin condition that causes a red / purple rash (known as erythema multiforme) to appear on the skin. It may be coupled with a fever and other flu-like symptoms. The external skin symptoms of this immune-complex syndrome alone can …

October 31st, 2012

In July of this year, we posted an article about the possible dangers posed to women by the NuvaRing birth control system, which is an intra-uterine device worn by women for a period of three weeks, during which time it slowly releases hormones into the …

October 8th, 2012

Fungal meningitis is normally a very rare condition that primarily occurs in patients with weakened immune systems. However, there is currently an evolving and progressing outbreak of a dangerous type of fungal meningitis caused by the organism known as Aspergillus; at this time, there have …