Extra ingredients prompt Digitek digoxin recall

The fact that the heart failure treatment drug Digitek (Digoxin) may contain twice the approved level of active ingredient than is appropriate has prompted Digitek recall by Actavis Totowa.

U.S. identifies tainted heparin in 11 countries

WASHINGTON - A contaminated blood thinner from China has been found in drug supplies in 11 countries, and federal officials said Monday they had discovered a clear link between the contaminant and severe reactions now associated with 81 deaths in the United States.

FDA thinks it has trigger in heparin deaths

New tests suggest how a contaminant in heparin - a blood thinner - may be connected to dozens of deaths, FDA officials said Monday.

Vioxx criticism may tarnish Merck but settlement safe

Renewed criticism of Merck & Co's handling of its withdrawn pain drug Vioxx may further tarnish the drugmaker's image but is not about to scuttle its multibillion-dollar deal to settle thousands of personal injury lawsuits brought by former Vioxx users.

Heparin is now suspected in 62 fatalities across the U.S.

The number of suspicious deaths in the United States linked to the blood thinner heparin has risen to 62 from 19, with most of them reported this past December, January and February, according to the first detailed analyses of heparin fatalities by the Food and Drug Administration.

Judge OKs subpoenas in Countrywide probe

A federal judge ruled the Justice Department can subpoena documents and question Countrywide Financial Corp. executives under oath to determine whether the lender abused borrowers and the bankruptcy-court process.

Congress: Vytorin Makers Held Bad News

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Allegations from Congress that drug makers Schering-Plough Corp. and Merck & Co. hid negative research results to boost sales have cast a shadow over the companies' futures.

Heparin recall has doctors watching supply

id="Btext1">Robert Ostfeld, MD, an attending cardiologist at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y., now thinks harder about how doctors at his institution use heparin. Does a particular patient really need it? Would another product be more appropriate?

Jury Awards $226,000 in Mesothelioma Civil Suit

An Indiana County jury this week awarded $226,000 to the family of a man who had been exposed to asbestos while he worked at the Fisher Scientific plant along Indian Springs Road in White Township.

John Ritter doctors cleared in wrongful death lawsuit

It was reported today (March 14, 2008) that two doctors accused of negligence in the death of beloved actor John Ritter have been cleared of all charges by a Glendale, Calif., jury. The physicians, a cardiologist and a radiologist, were under fire in the diagnosis and treatment of the actor, who died of a torn aorta in 2003.