The researchers caution that the results don’t suggest that eprotirome will or should replace statins, which are the current gold standard for treating high LDL cholesterol. However, the results of their small trial on 168 patients do suggest that eprotirome may eventually be a promising addition to statin therapy, a substitute for statins in people who can’t tolerate their side effects, or a novel treatment for mixed dyslipidemia, a condition in which people have high levels of lipids other than cholesterol such as triglycerides or apolipoprotein B (apo B).

The researchers found that eprotirome lowered blood lipids that are little affected by statin therapy but known to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, including triglycerides and lipoprotein A (Lp(a)).

“Our study has shown a dramatic reduction in the dangerous fats that cause heart disease, the number one killer of Americans,” said Dr. John Baxter, director of the Genomic Medicine Program at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and co-author for the study.

“For patients taking a statin, this drug can further lower LDL cholesterol by 25 percent – on top of what the statin is doing. It is also as potent in lowering triglycerides as any current medication available today,” Baxter added. “It also lowers Lp(a), which is an under recognized factor that also causes atherosclerosis and is a common cause of heart attack in young people. Thus, eprotirome could be a major complement to the only current medication for this condition, niacin, which causes flushing side effects.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued its statement following the publication of case reports of atypical subtrochanteric femur fractures - or fractures in the bone just below the hip joint - in women with osteoporosis using oral bisphosphonates.

Bisphosphonates are a class of drug aimed at preventing bone fractures and offsetting bone loss associated with menopause.

“According to a previous study, only 69 percent of rotator cuff repairs were completely healed when evaluated two years after the surgery,” said Scott Rodeo, M.D., co-chief of the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at Hospital for Special Surgery and senior author on the study. “Although not all of the patients with failed rotator cuff tendon healing had poor clinical outcomes, we wanted to look for ways to further improve patient outcomes.”

The rotator cuff is a set of four smaller muscles in the shoulder that rotate the upper arm. A rotator cuff tear happens when the tendon part of the muscle tears away from the bone of the upper arm. The repair surgery reattaches the tendon to the bone, but the success depends on how well the interface between the tendon and bone heals. Much of the time scar tissue forms at that interface, which is not as strong as the original tissue and can lead to a failed repair. 

Fulvestrant appeared to exert maximum anti-cancer effects in vitro when cells produced normal or elevated quantities of the cytokeratins CK8 and CK18, structural proteins that help give the nucleus its shape.

For fulvestrant to work well, the cells must also be responsive to estrogen, and producing the estrogen receptor ER-alpha. ER-alpha’s importance to fulvestrant’s anti-estrogenic action had been established in previous reports. The present study confirms fulvestrant’s binding relationship to ER-alpha, while also showing two other proteins, cytokeratins 8 and 18, can strongly enhance fulvestrant’s anti-estrogenic activity. Testing for the presence of these three proteins, and perhaps many others, could help doctors decide whether fulvestrant should be prescribed to their patients. 

In the U.S. there is a strong national push to encourage doctors to adopt ambulatory e-prescribing. An estimated 2.6 billion drugs are provided, prescribed, or continued at ambulatory care visits. Demonstrating the potential safety gains through health information technology is important to bring small group physician practices on board.

To assess the effects of e-prescribing on medication errors, the authors looked at the number and severity of prescribing errors – such as ordering a medication but omitting the quantity, prescribing a drug to a patient with a known allergy to the active ingredient and injuries from medication – in 12 community-based medical practices in the Hudson Valley region of New York.

Most of the so-called comparative effectiveness research is done at academic institutions or by other noncommercial enterprises, and less than 20 percent examine the safety of treatments, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Most of the comparative effectiveness studies we reviewed simply tested whether medication ‘x’ is better than medication ‘y,’ rather than addressing fundamental questions such as: How can we use this medication more effectively? When is this medication better than surgery? Which among two effective approaches is the safest?” said Dr. Danny McCormick of Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the study.

Taro’s levetiracetam tablets is a prescription product used in the treatment of epilepsy, and is bioequivalent to UCB’s Keppra® Tablets. According to industry sources, levetiracetam tablets had U.S. sales of over $700 million in 2009.

Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is a multinational, science-based pharmaceutical company, dedicated to meeting the needs of its customers through the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of the highest quality healthcare products.

A review of data from a clinical trial of the monoclonal antibody ocrelizumab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis by an independent data and safety monitoring board found evidence of infections, some of which were fatal. Many drugs for treating autoimmune disorders work by lowering the body’s immune system, and this has been known to raise patients’ risk of infections when taking some of the drugs.

Two studies of ocrelizumab — a study of rheumatoid arthritis patients and a study of lupus patients — were halted due to safety risks. A study of the drug in multiple sclerosis patients is ongoing.

“This achievement reflects the deep commitment that our CVS Caremark colleagues across the country have made to our mission of providing our customers with innovative solutions in pharmacy and health care. We couldn’t be more pleased to be named the most admired company in our industry,” stated Tom Ryan, chairman, president and CEO of CVS Caremark.

In addition innovation and shareholder value, Fortune’s scorecard for CVS Caremark included second-place honors in the categories of people management, use of corporate assets and financial soundness.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has set a Wednesday hearing “to get an overview of what is going on now with the agency with respect to drug safety,” said Karen Lightfoot, a spokeswoman for the panel’s chairman, Representative Henry Waxman.

“It’s not specific to a certain, particular drug,” she said.

In the study, researchers found that men younger than age 50 who regularly took acetaminophen more than two times a week had roughly double the risk of hearing loss compared to men who did not take acetaminophen regularly. Acetaminophen is the active ingredient in Tylenol and certain other pain relievers.

The researchers also found that men younger than age 50 who regularly took ibuprofen (the main ingredient in Advil) or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) at least twice a week had a nearly two-thirds higher risk of hearing loss than men who took NSAIDs less often. Men who took aspirin twice a week had a one-third higher risk. 

Federal Court judge Christopher Jessup awarded A$287,912 ($259,400) plus interest to grandfather Graeme Peterson, 59, who claimed the drug caused him to have a heart attack in 2003.

Peterson’s lawyers, Slater & Gordon, said the move paved the way for similar claims from hundreds of other Australians who suffered heart attacks after using the medicine, which was withdrawn from the market worldwide in 2004.

Junior health minister Mike O’Brien said on Thursday there would be penalties for those failing to ensure adequate supply. Officials will also implement tougher standards for the issue of licences to medical wholesalers.

The weak pound has created a widening price gap on medicine prices in Britain compared to those elsewhere in Europe, fuelling the arbitrage export trade and leading to a shortage of some drugs in the country.

The warnings came as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is set to push for new package labeling geared toward making it easier for consumers to understand the nutritional content of the foods they eat.

The FDA plans to soon issue draft guidelines for nutritional labeling, but also plans to work with the food industry to design a new labeling system, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in an open letter to the food industry.