The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that it is requiring manufacturers to put a Boxed Warning on the prescribing information for the smoking cessation drugs Chantix (varenicline) and Zyban (bupropion).
Celebrities and stars may be raving about the benefits of colon cleansing but a gastroenterologist from Charlottesville, Virginia urges consumers not to buy into the hype.
A new medical procedure to find polyps in the colon may hold promise, but kinks still need to be worked out, according to a report in MedPage Today. The new procedure, called a capsule colonoscopy, offers an alternative to the traditional colonoscopy in which a patient undergoes a bowel cleansing process before going under local anesthesia and having a flexible telescopic camera passed through the rectum and bowel.
Salix Pharmaceuticals, makers of gastrointestinal drugs, is reporting a first-quarter loss, however sales of the company's products used to clean the bowel prior to colonoscopies enjoyed a 23 percent increase compared to first quarter 2008, according to The News & Observer.
On December 11, 2008, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a "black box warning" to consumers and health care professionals that a rare but serious form of kidney failure, acute phosphate nephropathy, had been associated with the use of prescription oral sodium phosphate (OSP) products Visicol and Osmo Prep, both made by Salix Pharmaceuticals. The products are routinely prescribed for bowel cleansing prior to colonoscopy, radiographic procedures and surgery. Acute phosphate nephropathy is a rare but serious adverse event that is often permanent and may require chronic dialysis. The FDA expressed equal concern about the risks associated with over-the-counter (OTC) bowel clearing products such as Fleet Phospho-soda and Fleet Accu-Prep solutions.
On December 11, 2008, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a "black box warning" to consumers and health care professionals that a rare but serious form of kidney failure, acute phosphate nephropathy, had been associated with the use of prescription oral sodium phosphate (OSP) products Visicol and Osmo Prep, both made by Salix Pharmaceuticals. The FDA expressed equal concern about the risks associated with over-the-counter (OTC) bowel clearing products such as Fleet Phospho-soda and Fleet Accu-Prep solutions.
Colon cleansing. It's a popular health trend. But a recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement urges cleansers to steer clear of OTC laxatives as a way to bowel cleanse.
