Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Consumers should not take the oral mineral supplement Miracle Mineral Solution because when used as directed, it produces an industrial bleach that can cause serious health problems. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the warning after receiving several reports of injuries from consumers who had used the product, including severe nausea, vomiting, and life-threatening low blood pressure from dehydration. Consumers are advised to shop using the solution immediately and throw it away.

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning health care professionals and patients about the potential for developing a type of pneumonia when treated with Cubicin (daptomycin), an intravenous antibacterial drug used to treat MRSA and MSSA, serious difficult-to-treat staph infections of the skin and bloodstream. Eosinophilic pneumonia is a rare but serious condition where a type of white blood cell (eosinophil) fills the lungs. Symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and difficulty breathing. If not quickly recognized and appropriately managed, esoinophilic pneumonia may lead to progressive respiratory failure and death.

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy plan for the malaria drug Qualaquin (quinine sulfate) to warn against unapproved uses. The plan warns health care professionals and consumers not to use Qualaquin to treat night time leg cramps or restless leg syndrome, because such use has resulted in serious side effects and even death. Qualaquin is approved by the FDA to treat uncomplicated malaria caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which can be life-threatening if untreated. The drug is sometimes prescribed for restless leg syndrome though that use is not approved by the FDA.

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U.S. District Judge Berle M. Schiller has ruled that manufacturers of generic drugs are not protected from lawsuits even if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) certifies them as the “bioequivalent” of their brand name predecessors. The lawsuit involved consumers who were previously taking the brand name antidepressant Wellbutrin.

The defendants allege after switching to a generic version of the drug, buproprion, made by Teva Pharmaceuticals and Impax Laboratories, they experienced side effects. The lawsuit contends Teva and Impax became aware of the side effects but failed to warn consumers. While the active ingredient in Wellbutin and buproprion is the same, the two have differing release rates, which the defendants say caused adverse events when they switched to bupropion.

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When Joshua Brantner was 20 years old, he attended a party that changed his life forever. He arrived as a healthy, ordinary guy but left in an ambulance with a traumatic brain injury that severely impaired his mental and physical functions.

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Concussions, injuries that fall on the mild side of the traumatic brain injury (TBI) scale, are receiving significantly more consideration these days than ever before, thanks to studies that probe and attempt to grasp the often elusive nature of TBI.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers yesterday that the dietary supplement Stiff Nights contains sulfoaildenafil, a chemical compound similar to sildenafil, the active ingredient found in Viagra. When combined with prescription nitrates, including nitroglycerin, sildenafil can cause blood pressure to drop dangerously.

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The FDA recently issued a notice to critical health care professionals warning of the risk of serious bleeding events and mortality in patients who received Xigris, a medication approved by the FDA for the treatment of adult high-risk severe sepsis. Sepsis is a common, deadly and underdiagnosed disease that can develop as a complication after illnesses such as pneumonia and bacterial infections. High-risk sepsis is sepsis associated with acute organ dysfunction. Xigris is indicated when cardiovascular, renal or respiratory dysfunction occurs with severe sepsis.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an alert for healthcare professionals and patients that a lot of ReliOn insulin syringes sold at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club’s may be dangerously mislabeled. The manufacturer of the syringes, Tyco Healthcare Group LP, has voluntarily recalled the needles.

Diabetes patients who use the recalled syringes may inadvertently receive an overdose of up to 2.5 times the intended dose. Possible complications could include hypoglycemia and other serious side effects and death.

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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.

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