You may be familiar with hearing the term "Black Box Warning" without being clear on what it is. Quite simply it is a warning of possible severe side affects of prescription drugs. You can find this warning on the package insert of the medication. These should never be ignored.

Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, said the controversial drugs will do little to reduce cervical cancer rates and, even though they're being recommended for girls as young as nine, there have been no efficacy trials in children under the age of 15.

Drug labels in the United States often omit information showing the severity of side effects or that a medicine is not very effective, two doctors said on Wednesday.

The Alabama Supreme Court apparently was not content to cheat the public with the outrageous ExxonMobil ruling. It pulled pretty much the same fraudulent stunt again the other day, with a few slight variations. In late 2007, the Alabama Supremes stunned many observers by overturning most of a $3.6 billion jury verdict in a fraud case against oil giant ExxonMobil. That decision robbed state coffers of badly needed funds at the outset of the Bush recession.

Merck & Co. is paying claims by the families of more than 3,100 users of its Vioxx painkiller who died of heart attacks or strokes blamed on the drug, according to a law firm administering a $4.85 billion settlement fund.

A man says he got hepatitis from taking Havoc, a diet supplement. He claims Recomp Performance Nutrition failed to warn about the "risk, dangers and adverse side effects" of the drug, which is not approved by the FDA.

Merck & Co on Tuesday is slated to fight the first of numerous U.S. lawsuits brought by patients who claim they suffered jaw damage from the company's widely used Fosamax treatment for osteoporosis.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Former Vioxx users getting part of a $4.85 billion settlement ending most personal injury suits over the withdrawn painkiller will get a bigger piece of the pie, thanks to an unusual settlement Thursday with their health insurers.

Plaintiffs get close to $5B, but Merck could have done a lot worse.

Attorneys who spent nearly one year negotiating a $4.85 billion Vioxx settlement were left pondering a paradox. Since each side now is certain that the other is prepared for, if not relishing, a litigation Verdun, wouldn't it make better sense to settle after a minimum number of skirmishes?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Top doctors at the helm of one of the nation's most influential medical journals are giving the Supreme Court some unsolicited legal advice about a major case. The Food and Drug Administration "is in no position" to guarantee drug safety, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said in a friend-of-the-court brief. Lawsuits can serve as "a vital deterrent" and protect consumers if drug companies don't disclose risks.