Mark Bloom

December 15, 2006

SAN ANTONIO -- The annual incidence of breast cancer has fallen drastically, coinciding with the end of the hormone replacement therapy era, according to SEER data from the National Cancer Institute. After a steady rise during the past 20 years, the incidence dropped 7% from 2002 to 2003, reported investigators at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The absolute reduction could be as many as 14,000 breast cancer cases per year.

December 15, 2006

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Acting with uncommon speed, the FDA today approved Celebrex for the pain of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis-less than a month after an advisory committee recommended that it do so.

December 15, 2006

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Acting with uncommon speed, the FDA today approved Celebrex for the pain of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis-less than a month after an advisory committee recommended that it do so.

December 08, 2006

GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- The FDA's drug-eluting stent safety panel recommended today that the labels of Cypher (sirolimus-eluting) and Taxus (paclitaxel-eluting) stents be changed to include a warning that off-label use of the devices may carry an increased risk of stent thrombosis, myocardial infarction, and death. The panel also called for the label to carry a recommendation for 12-months of dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and Plavix (clopidogrel) when drug-eluting stents are used off-label.

November 09, 2006

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA alerted the public today that some 11 million bottles of generic acetaminophen had been recalled by the Perrigo Company of Allegan, Mich., because of metal fragments contamination in a small number of caplets.

October 23, 2006

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA today approved Omnaris (ciclesonide), a corticosteroid nasal spray, for hay fever symptoms in adults and children 12 years of age and older.

October 17, 2006

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA approved Januvia (sitagliptin) today, the first dipetidyl peptidase-4 (DDP-4) inhibitor, an oral agent for type 2 diabetes as monotherapy or in combination with Glucophage (metformin) or a PPAR agonist.

September 08, 2006

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA issued a caution today about the potential for attenuation of low-dose aspirin's antiplatelet effect when ibuprofen is used concomitantly for pain relief.

July 31, 2006

HAVANA -- President Fidel Castro, 79, one of the last of the Communist dictators, underwent intestinal surgery tonight, according to Havana television in a statement signed by the Cuban leader himself. There were no other immediate medical details. Castro's brother, Raul, was put in interim charge. Fidel Castro, whose 80th birthday is Aug. 13, took over in 1959.

July 21, 2006

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA issued a warning today to doctors and consumers to avoid the use of an ostensible therapy for Lyme disease called bismacine, also known as chromacine, that may have caused one death and multiple injuries.