HomePharmaceutical
Pharmaceutical
No link between suicide and weight loss drugs – EMA
Evidence does not support a causal association between the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1) – dulaglutide, exenatide, liraglutide, lixisenatide and semaglutide – and suicidal...
Doctor’s HPCSA hearing over Covid vaccine comments begins
A disciplinary hearing against doctor Shankara Chetty began in Durban last week after Wits University Professor Francois Venter lodged a complaint against him with...
Hundreds of websites flog fake weight-loss and other drugs
An Israeli cybersecurity firm has taken down more than 250 websites selling fake versions of popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs in the GLP-1 class,...
Dentist pleads not guilty to patient’s murder in ‘detox’ clinic
The trial of a Durban dentist, charged with murder after a patient died in his detox centre seven years ago, started in the High...
New injectable antibiotic approved for three uses
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the injectable drug ceftobiprole medocaril sodium (Zevtera) to treat adults with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB), the agency announced...
Short-lived ALS drug faces class action suit after withdrawal
The manufacturer of the world’s newest treatment approved for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, has withdrawn the drug from the...
Costly Ozempic can be made for less than $5 month – UK study
Ozempic, the popular diabetes drug – and similar weight-loss medications – could be manufactured for less than $5 a month, even as Novo Nordisk...
Swedish researchers warn of over-use of antibiotics with newborns
Low exposure to antibiotics in newborns treated in neonatal units over a nine-year period was not associated with an increased risk of early-onset sepsis...
Japanese supplements linked to deaths
Japanese Government health officials have launched investigations and carried out inspections on factories producing health supplements linked to at least five deaths and the...
In search of the slimming Holy Grail
There is not a person on the planet with a few kilograms to lose who does not dream of a quick fix to their...
Eli Lilly warns of insulin shortages
Two formulations of insulin from Eli Lilly would be temporarily out of stock until the beginning of April, the company has said, citing a...
Autism risk may rise with in-utero anti-seizure meds – US study
A study by American researchers suggests that the incidence of autism spectrum disorder is higher among children exposed to topiramate in the second half...
WHO elaborates on resistance to ARV medicine
Although the WHO recently reported that drug resistance to the gold-standard antiretroviral medicine, dolutegravir, “exceeded levels observed in clinical trials”, it has since elaborated,...
FDA flags J&J, Bristol’s CAR-T therapies
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) staff have expressed concern about Johnson & Johnson’s and Bristol Myers Squibb’s cell therapies, saying it is unclear whether...
FDA approves expanded use of liver disease drug
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the expanded use of Mirum Pharmaceuticals’ medication, Livmarli, to treat itching caused by a liver disorder...
Dependence on Indian-made drugs puts Africa at risk
Africa’s reliance on Indian pharmaceuticals poses a risk to the continent’s security of access to medicine, and this week’s Belgian presidency of the Council...
Acne drug not linked to higher suicide risk – meta-analysis
Users of the acne drug isotretinoin do not experience an increased risk of suicide, according to a recent meta-analysis, but may actually have a...
Large study shows ALS drug failures
The maker of a much-debated drug for Lou Gehrig’s disease said last week that its therapy had failed to help patients in a large...
UK reviews asthma drug after traumatic side effects in children
Activists are demanding stricter controls and more prominent warnings on the commonly prescribed asthma and allergy drug montelukast, which has seen children as young...
Alzheimer’s drug beset by various challenges
Neurologists are voicing “frustration” at core elements of the Alzheimer's drug Leqembi, produced by Eisai and Biogen and which was supposed to be the...
SA urges Pepfar to buy more African HIV/Aids drugs
South African pharmaceutical companies have urged the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) to shift 2m patients to made-in-Africa HIV/Aids medicines by...
Safety update on medicines containing pseudoephedrine
Britain’s MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) has reviewed the latest evidence relating to the very rare risk of side effects associated with...
ADHD drug shortage continues in USA
More than a year after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a shortage of the ADHD medication Adderall, doctors and patients say...
US drug companies defend high prices at Senate meeting
In an escalating verbal battle, the CEOs of three major pharmaceutical companies defended the high prices of their drugs in front of the US...
British fatalities in Spain prompt call for inquiry into painkiller
There have been growing calls for a comprehensive national study in Spain to establish the adverse side-effects of the controversial painkiller metamizole, linked to...
Big Pharma under pressure over drugs shortages and high costs
Amid a global shortage of key drugs, Big Pharma is coming under pressure in the US where the CEOs of two major firms have...
FDA inaction despite asthma drug link to suicide
It took the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) 12 years after launching a safety review of the allergy-and-asthma drug Singulair before it required a black-box...
No causal link between suicidal thoughts and obesity meds – FDA
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says its preliminary review of reports related to suicidal thoughts or actions in patients treated with glucagon-like...
Two studies find inappropriate use of aspirin
Some patients may still be taking aspirin inappropriately, according to the findings of two single-centre retrospective studies, presented at the recent American Society of...
Patients sue Spanish government over banned painkiller
A patients group representing several British victims has launched legal action against the Spanish Government over claims it failed to safeguard people against the...
How the state is working to reduce stockouts
Over the past 10 years, the National Health Department has rolled out a range of electronic surveillance systems to monitor medicine stocks throughout healthcare...
US study finds serious side effects from weight-loss drugs
Diabetes drugs now popular for their serendipitous by-product – weight loss – have also been linked to increased risk of gastrointestinal side effects, including...
Needle-free anaphylaxis drug thwarted by FDA
A US drug company – ARS Pharma – which had been hoping for FDA approval last week of its flagship product, a needle-free treatment...
J&J probed for high TB drug prices and patent law 'abuse'
Just weeks after Johnson & Johnson, among other pharmaceutical giants, was exposed for charging South Africa 15% more than what it charged the European...
FDA approves rare bone disorder drug
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved French drugmaker Ipsen’s drug for a rare bone disorder, making it the first treatment available to...
US drug approval policy could be harming patients worldwide
While the US Food & Drug Administration’s accelerated-approval process was designed to ease access to life-saving drugs, communication gaps could mean people are undergoing...
New blood cancer therapy from Pfizer approved
Accelerated approval has been granted to a new therapy from Pfizer for a specific type of blood cancer that is difficult to treat, said...
FDA approves first postpartum depression pill
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Biogen and Sage Therapeutics’ postpartum depression pill (PPD), reports Reuters.
The companies had also sought approval for the...
Priciest cancer drugs bumped off WHO’s medicines list
Several exorbitantly priced medicines, including some breast and lung cancer drugs, have been excluded from the updated Essentials Medicines List (EML) and Essential Medicines...
J&J patent deal allows for cheaper generic TB drugs, but SA may lose out
Johnson & Johnson has struck a deal to allow generic versions of its TB drug to be supplied to low-income countries – but critics...