Posts Tagged "dangerous drugs"

Internal Bleeding Linked to Pradaxa

Posted By Robert Gordon on Jul 25, 2013

Pradaxa (generic name dabigatran) prevents blood clots via the protein thrombin, which has been shown in trials to prevent blood coalescing in patients who display a specific   heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation.

Approved in 2010, and administered in the form of capsules, Pradaxa reduces the likelihood of stroke, especially in the elderly. With more than 1.1 million prescriptions written since its licensing, Pradaxa looked like a winner, producing fewer side effects than warfarin, a Gen. 1 anticoagulant that once set the market standard.

At least that was the song and dance EU manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, to garner approval for Pradaxa. The anti-coagulant, which one proponent called “warfarin 2.0”, was heralded as requiring less management and producing fewer side effects than warfarin, based on reports of patients and physicians who switched from warfarin to Pradaxa.

Is Yaz Still Being Sold?

Posted By Robert Gordon on May 27, 2013

Yaz, America’s top-selling birth control, hit the shelves in 2006 in a big way.  The pill promised effective birth control, clearer skin, and the ad campaign reflected that Yaz was hip, young, and definitely not the same birth control your mother grew up on.  Claims against the dangerous drug were already taking place overseas, in places like Great Britain, but in America the birth control pill kept selling, despite some of the health warnings.  The too-good-to-be-true pill started showing its true colors.  Even with FDA warnings and an amended commercial, Yaz kept selling and women kept feeling the pain of side effects.