Research has shown that antidepressants help about three quarters of people with depression who take them. But that evidence has come with a big asterisk. Yes, the drugs are effective, in that they lift depression in most patients. But that benefit is hardly more than what patients get when they take a dummy pill—a placebo. As more and more scientists who study depression and the drugs that treat it are concluding, that suggests that antidepressants are basically expensive Tic Tacs.
Archive for January, 2010
The Depressing News About Antidepressants
Published January 29, 2010 News Leave a CommentTags: antidepressant studies, antidepressants, antidepressants effectiveness, depression treatments, pills for depression, SSRIs versus placebo, studies on depression, treatments for depression
Warning on Fake Alli
Published January 19, 2010 News , Warning Leave a CommentTags: Alli diet drug, Alli diet pills, Alli for weight loss, Alli warning, Alli weight loss, diet drug warning, diet pill warning, fake Alli warning, weight loss drug warning
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday warned consumers about a counterfeit version of GlaxoSmithKline’s weight-loss drug Alli. Alli is sold over-the-counter in a variety of retail stores. The counterfeit version was purchased by consumers on the Internet, and GlaxoSmithKline started receiving complaints about the product last month. Glaxo said the product was purchased from online auction sites like eBay.
Johnson & Johnson Widens Tylenol Recall to Other Brands
Published January 15, 2010 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: acetaminophen recall, asprin recall, Benadryl recall, Motrin recall, Rolaids recall, Simply Sleep recall, St. Joseph's asprin recall, St. Joseph's recall, Tylenol arthritis recall, Tylenol mildew, Tylenol mildew smell, Tylenol mold smell, Tylenol moldy smell, Tylenol PM recall, Tylenol recall, Tylenol side effects, Tylenol smell, Tylenol warning
Johnson & Johnson on Friday said it was expanding its recall of lots of its pain reliever Tylenol to include such other popular over-the-counter brands such as Benadryl, Motrin, and Rolaids. The company said it was recalling specifics lots of the products because of reports that they smell musty. Some users of the suspect products have also reported developing nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. No serious medical reactions have been reported. The latest recall covers certain lots and formulations of the following medications: Junior Strength Motrin IB, Children’s Tylenol Meltaways, Benadryl, Extra Strength Tylenol, Extra Strength Tylenol Rapid Release, Motrin IB, Regular Strength Tylenol, Rolaids, Simply Sleep, St. Joseph Aspirin, Tylenol Arthritis, and Tylenol PM.
J&J Is Admonished About Tylenol Recall
Published January 15, 2010 News , Recall Leave a CommentTags: acetaminophen odor, acetaminophen problems, acetaminophen recall, acetaminophen smell, acetaminophen warning, problems with Tylenol, Tylenol acetaminophen, Tylenol odor, Tylenol recall, Tylenol recalled, Tylenol smell, Tylenol warning
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said a Johnson & Johnson unit should have acted sooner to recall Tylenol and other products after receiving consumer complaints about moldy or mildew-like smells. Agency officials said Friday the company first became aware of a problem in September 2008, but didn’t conduct a full investigation and report the problem to the agency until September 2009.
FDA: JNJ Unit Failed To Test Tylenol For Contaminants
Published January 13, 2010 News , Recall Leave a CommentTags: acetaminophen, acetaminophen recall, acetaminophen side effects, acetaminophen warning, recall of Tylenol, recall on Tylenol, Tylenol contaminated, Tylenol mold, Tylenol moldy, Tylenol moldy smell, Tylenol recall, Tylenol recall 2009, Tylenol recall 2010, Tylenol recalled, Tylenol side effects, Tylenol smell
A Johnson & Johnson unit failed to test whether its pain reliever Tylenol was chemically contaminated despite receiving a heightened number of consumer complaints in 2008 that the pills smelled musty, according to a report by U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors. In 2008, J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare received more than 70 musty odor complaints for Tylenol Arthritis Caplets. However, the company didn’t conduct a formal investigation at the time even though more than eight of the complaints suggested the pills caused gastrointestinal problems in patients, the FDA report says.
Contraceptive lawsuits going to trial
Published January 11, 2010 News 2 CommentsTags: Yasmin blood clots, Yasmin deaths, Yasmin gallbladder, Yasmin heart attack, Yasmin kidneys, Yasmin lawsuit, Yasmin side effects, Yasmin stroke, Yaz blood clots, Yaz deaths, Yaz gappbladder, Yaz heart attack, Yaz kidneys, Yaz lawsuit, Yaz side effects, Yaz stroke
The federal courthouse in East St. Louis, Ill., will hold pretrial proceedings for as many as 25,000 lawsuits involving a popular contraceptive, officials say. The suits against Bayer allege the drug, called Yaz and Yasmin, causes strokes, heart attacks, pulmonary embolism, thrombosis, cardiac arrhythmia, gallbladder disease, kidney failure and sudden death, the Belleville News-Democrat said.
Study finds medication of little help to patients with mild, moderate depression
Published January 6, 2010 Health Alert , News Leave a CommentTags: antidepressant treatment, antidepressants, antidepressants depression, antidepressants effectiveness, depression symptoms, help from antidepressants, pills for depression, SSRIs
Antidepressant medications probably provide little or no benefit to people with mild or moderate depression, a new study has found. Rather, the mere act of seeing a doctor, discussing symptoms and learning about depression probably triggers the improvements many patients experience while on medication. Only people with very severe depression receive additional benefits from drugs, said the senior author of the study.
