Controversy surrounding Vytorin continues to escalate, this time as federal and state prosecutors investigate Merck and Schering-Plough's conduct in marketing the drug. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, many government officials suspect that the companies' marketing of Vytorin may have been misleading and improper.

Both Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barak Obama and Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain say they support drug reimportation - or the importing of prescription drugs from other countries - however both say that the safety of those drugs should be paramount.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), a watchdog group that researched data dating back to 2004 and yearly totals from the early 1990s, found more than 4,800 deaths and more than 21,000 adverse drug reactions were reported to the FDA during the first three months this year. The number of adverse reactions was 38 percent higher than the average for the previous four calendar quarters and the highest for any quarter, according to the report. There was a 3 percent increase in the number of deaths compared to the last calendar quarter of 2007.

ETHEX Corporation announced Oct. 16 that it is voluntarily recalling lots of Dextroamphetamine Sulfate 5 mg tables due to oversized pills that may contain as much as twice the labeled amount of its active ingredient, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The recalled lots were distributed under the ETHEX label between January 2007 and May 2008.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is investigating a possible link between the drug Vytorin, manufactured by Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough, and an increased risk of a variety of cancers. An FDA MedWatch Alert released Thursday, Aug. 21, informed healthcare professionals that the agency is investigating a report from the Simvastatin and Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis (SEAS) trial of a possible association between the use of Vytorin and a potentially increased incidence of cancer.

Attorneys who take on the pharmaceutical industry as a voice for consumers injured by medications found an unlikely ally this week, in doctors. Noting that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration is often "overwhelmed" by drug safety problems ranging from serious side effects to unsafe manufacturing facilities, editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said patients benefit from information uncovered by attorneys during liability investigations, according to an Associated Press report released Friday.

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Actavis Totowa announced a voluntary recall of more than 65 generic drug products manufactured at its Little Falls, New Jersey, facility. The recall follows an inspection conducted by the Food & Drug Administration earlier this year, which revealed that operations at the New Jersey facility did not meet FDA standards.

In response to a number of recent reports of serious side effects associated with the stop-smoking medication Chantix, Beasley Allen has launched a web site that outlines the problems associated with the drug, manufactured by Pfizer. The web site, www.chantix-legal.com, provides information to help patients identify risks associated with Chantix.

Merck & Co., manufacturer of Vioxx, announced it will make the first payment of $500 million on Aug. 6 into a fund to settle claims by plaintiffs injured by the drug. The settlement fund will eventually total $4.85 billion. By providing the funding for settlements, Merck waives its right to walk away from the settlement deal, originally established in May. More than 60,000 people currently have registered a claim that Vioxx caused heart attack or stroke. Payments to claimants will begin before the end of August.

Pharmaceutical company Merck says it will start cutting checks next month for former users of its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx. Merck announced plans today to fund the $4.8 billion settlement involving about 50,000 lawsuits.