If you've missed out on the news in the past two weeks, here's your chance to catch up. This is a look at the top news in each newsletter category. As usual, if you'd like to read about these in greater depth you can view the newsletters at www.medtrackalert.com.
Asthma/Allergy
- Antibiotics may increase an infant's asthma risk
- Cats affect breathing in people with allergies, even if that person is not specifically allergic to felines.
High Cholesterol
- Generic statins work for about 63 percent of the people who take them. The rest need the more potent statins like Crestor and Lipitor.
- Statins, heart meds like ACE inhibitors may help Alzheimer's.
- Two new studies on Vytorin (Zetia/Zocor combo med) show it works better for people with Type 2 diabetes than Lipitor and reduces heart risks better than Crestor.
- Four hours of non-stop seated travel doubles the risk of DVT -- and it doesn't matter whether it's a plane, bus, or car.
Inflammatory Arthritis/Rheumatoid Arthritis
- A couple of new studies have rated the new RA meds, with Orencia, Rheumatrex, continuing to come out on top.
- Enbrel may reduce disability in RA patients.
- RA meds are generally given to men earlier in the disease because doctors fail to take women's complaints of subjective symptoms like pain as seriously. This was a big study because women tend to do far worse with RA and get treatment much later, and this might help explain why.
- Vitamin A derivatives may help RA.
- Remicade is showing promise as an ankylosing spondylitis treatment. This is a severe form of arthritis in the spine.
- Steroids may cut the lymphoma risk associated with RA.
- Humira improves productivity in RA patients and may help them stay at work longer before they're disabled.
Chronic Pain
- Lyrica became the first medication ever approved for fibromyalgia.
- There's a new double-opioid painkiller in trials that combines OxyContin and morphine into a pill. Because it doubles them up at half the strength each, the med is less addictive and more effective against pain. It's still in clinical trials in Australia.
Osteoporosis
- COPD (emphysema) has been linked to bone loss.
- Bone-loss meds, including estrogen and bisphosphonates, do actually reduce fracture risks, a new study shows.
Osteoarthritis
- The narcotic drug Avinza improves sleep in OA patients.
- Prexige is better for OA patients who have high blood pressure because it doesn't boost the BP every time it's used.
- In the never-ending debate about glucosamine for OA, a new study says that the huge variations in the positive results in the trials for this supplement are pointing to industry bias ("cooking the books") to say the stuff works. Experts say it doesn't work at all. Other experts read this and accused these experts of "cooking the books." So the jury's still out.
- European regulators wants all medications that contain piroxicam to be restricted because it can cause GI problems and severe skin reactions. This includes the painkiller Feldene.
Heart Disease
- Latairis may help with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a serious form of heart failure.
- Exforge (Diovan/Norvasc combo) was finally approved by the FDA; Novartis will be selling it in the U.S.
- Rasilez was okayed by the agency that advises European regulators who approve new drugs. It's a new hypertension med.
- Lipitor helps cuts heart risks in Type 2 diabetics.
- Obesity may help people NOT die from a heart attack, but it does help give them the heart attack in the first place.
Mental Health
- Psychiatrists at the AMA want video game addiction added to the list of "formal disorders" like compulsive gambling. The AMA voted and said they need to do more research before they officially call it an addiction.
- Children are increasingly being given antipsychotics, even though they're not approved for children.
- Risperdal is being considered for approval for use in teens and children.
- Adding a second depression med or mood stabilizer to an elderly patient's regimen of Paxil improves their recovery rates.
- Mother's antidepressant use apparently only puts their babies at a slightly increased risk.
- People who have insomnia often have mental health problems too.
Crohn's disease
- IBD has grown tenfold in the past 50 years and researchers don't know the exact cause.
Diabetes
- Byetta may lower heart risks for patients with Type 2 diabetes.
- Pre-diabetes increases heart risks.
- Avandia has been linked to increased fracture risk in men. This follows a 2006 study that suggested that Avandia increased fracture risk in women.
Cancer
- Some sunscreens may be dangerous for women recovering from breast cancer
- A new medication to treat head and neck cancer has been granted priority review by the FDA.
- Cancer patients who take IV bisphosphonates are putting themselves at
risk for jawbone and facial infections.
Weight
- An FDA panel recommended against approval for the diet-drug Acomplia. As a result drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis pulled their FDA new drug application.
- Childhood obesity has skyrocketed and may one day overwhelm the health care industry.
- High carbohydrate diets have been linked to an increase in total cholesterol and triglycerides.
Alzheimer's
- A dulled sense of smell may be an early indicator of memory loss.
- Keeping the brain active with activities such as reading, working puzzles, and taking up new hobbies may help keep Alzheimer's at bay.
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