Class 1 recall of Becton Dickinson ProbeTec ET Uri ne Processsing Kit due to false negative results
February 1, 2005 12:27

Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 12:22:59 -0500From: CDER MEDWATCH LISTSERV Subject: FDA MedWatch - MedWatch - The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting ProgramFDA and Becton Dickinson notified healthcare professionals of a Class 1 recall of the ProbeTec... (Read Article)

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. has acknowledged that a 1999 study found Alzheimer's patients taking the pain killer Celebrex were up to four times more likely to have cardiovascular risk factors than those taking a placebo. The findings prompted a consumer group on Monday to renew its call for the government to ban Pfizer from selling Celebrex, as well as the arthritis drug Bextra.

EMAIL From: Joan Claybrook & Frank ClementeJan. 31, 2005 As you may know, federal class action legislation will be on the floor of the U.S. Senate next week. Publc Citizen is strongly opposed to this legislation. Our briefing memo for editorial writers and... (Read Article)

An advocacy group, USAction, said that four television networks had turned down its request to run an advertisement opposing President Bush's effortto clamp down on medical malpractice lawsuits. The group wanted to run the spots just before Mr. Bush's State... (Read Article)

Under a far-reaching reform to be announced, all
staff scientists at the National Institutes of Health
will be banned from accepting any consulting fees or
other income from drug companies, and the employees
must also divest industry stock holdings, officials
said. The new regulations - drawn up by
administrators from the NIH, the Office of Government
Ethics and the Department of Health and Human
Services - are aimed at halting lucrative deals that
have led to conflict-of-interest inquiries at the
government's premier agency for medical research. For
the last decade, government scientists at the NIH
have quietly been allowed to consult for biomedical
companies under policies that defenders have said
helped attract talented personnel to the agency.
Hundreds of scientists took millions of dollars in
fees and stock from industry. Most of the payments
were hidden from public view, raising questions about
the scientists' impartiality in overseeing clinical
trials and in making recommendations to doctors for
treating patients.

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David Willman, Los Angeles Times, 02/01/2005

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ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC declined to run an ad featuring Dylan Malone, speaking about the negligence that led to his son Ian's death last year. "The best way I can honor Ian's memory is to inform the public about the serious problem of medical negligence," wrote Dylan. Ian, who struggled for four and a half years, was born with severe brain damage because of medical negligence.
http://www.usaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=eiJPJ5OVF&b=71216