Author: Sarah Smedley

What will it take to lose just 5 or 10 more pounds? A miracle? We have all wished for one — especially at this time of year when we all make New Year’s resolutions. And miracles are just what a lot of weight-loss products promise. But they may not deliver what you think. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently pointed out the risks of some of these products, which can be serious — up to and including death. The FDA found that weight-loss supplements contain unsafe, unapproved and undocumented ingredients. That’s why the agency recently issued a public…

Eight years have elapsed since the introduction of electronic cigarettes, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is just beginning to hold meetings to discuss how these devices are made and the potency of their ingredients. Why now? Because e-cigarettes have attained a meaningful, and growing, toehold in the nicotine delivery business. The market for “vaping” — the curious term that has supplanted “smoking” because e-cigarettes users inhale vapor in place of smoke — has grown exponentially. This year, Americans will spend about $2.2 billion on more than 400 brands of e-cigarettes, numbers that exceed the patches and gums associated…

A recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruling sent shockwaves through many women, reminding us again why we need to know about the risks of our surgeon’s tools and techniques. In November, the FDA sent their most serious warning to physicians and manufacturers about the risk of using laparoscopic power morcellators (LPMs) — medical devices used during different types of laparoscopic (minimally invasive) surgeries. These can include certain procedures to treat uterine fibroids, such as removing the uterus (hysterectomy) or removing the uterine fibroids (myomectomy). What’s the worry? The big ‘C’ Of the 600,000 hysterectomies a year in the U.S.,…

Singulair (montelukast) was a blockbuster drug for its manufacturer, Merck. Until last year — when it wasn’t. Its patent exprired, and Merck, understandably, applied tot he FDA to sell the drug over-the-counter (OTC) to adults for the temporary relief of symptoms due to hay fever or other upper respieatory allergies nasal congestion, runny nose, itchy, watery eyes, sneezing, itching of the nose. So why did the fDA say no? In short: fear of side effects cause by consumers using it off-label — or not reading the label at all. Don’t Look for Singulair in the Allergy Aisle of Your Pharmacy…