Health Highlights: April 1, 2009
April 2 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
New Diabetes Drug Gets FDA Panel's Backing
An unapproved diabetes drug called saxagliptin has won the endorsement of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel of experts, who said the drug doesn't appear to raise users' risks of heart attack or stroke, the Dow Jones news service reported Wednesday.
The FDA panel voted 10-2 to recommend approval by the full agency, which isn't bound by the experts' decision but usually follows such recommendations.
Concern about possible cardiovascular side effects stemmed, in part, from a 2007 study that linked the widely prescribed diabetes drug Avandia to an increased risk of heart attack, Dow Jones reported. The FDA has since strengthened guidelines regulating such drugs.
The full FDA could make a decision on saxagliptin's fate by the end of April, the news service said. If approved, the drug would be sold under the brand name Onglyza. It was developed by pharmaceutical companies Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca.
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Caraco Recalls Digoxin Tablets: Report
Generic heart tablets that may contain the wrong amount of medicine have been recalled by Detroit-based Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories Ltd.
The recall covers 0.125 milligram and 0.25 milligram digoxin tablets distributed before March 31 and with the expiration date of September 2011, Bloomberg news reported. Size differences among the pills may mean they have too much or too little of the active ingredient, said the company and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Errors in pill size could cause heart problems, serious side effects or death, especially in patients with kidney failure. So far, there have been no reports of anyone being harmed by the recalled tablets, said Caraco and the FDA.
Digoxin, used to treat heart failure and abnormal heart rhythms, is sold by several makers of generic drugs, Bloomberg reported.
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Big Cigarette Tax Hike Swamps Quit Lines, Groups Say
Wednesday's big hike in federal cigarette taxes has driven record numbers of smokers to tobacco quit lines in many states, the Associated Press reported.
On Monday, President Barack Obama signed a law raising cigarette taxes from 39 cents to $1.01 a pack, and from 19.5 cents to 50 cents per pound for chewing tobacco. Calls to National Jewish Health hot lines in six states -- Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, New Mexico and Ohio -- have been growing this past month but tripled on Monday, the AP said.
Meanwhile, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids told the wire service that Michigan's hot line, which gives out free nicotine patches, ran out of money in March after getting 65,000 calls, more than three times that for all of 2008.
Arkansas stopped advertising its stop-smoking program after calls soared from 500 a week in January to 2,000 in mid-March, the campaign told AP, and Indiana and Oklahoma also reported record calls.
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Analysis Shows More Americans Hospitalized for Eating Disorders
The number of Americans hospitalized for eating disorders that caused anemia, kidney failure, erratic heart rhythms and other problems rose 18 percent from 1999 to 2006, a new federal analysis shows.
Using data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database of hospital inpatient stays, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) found hospitalizations for eating disorders rose most for children under 12 years of age (119 percent) and for those ages 45 to 64 (48 percent), according to an agency news release issued Wednesday. Women led hospitalizations for eating disorders (up 89 percent in 2006), and men's treatment visits were up 37 percent, according to the news release.
Treatments for anorexia, the most common of eating disorders, were steady, and hospitalizations for bulimia declined 7 percent, according to the AHRQ report. Hospitalizations for other, less common eating disorders also went up 38 percent, the news release said.
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FDA Advisory Panel Backs Avastin for Brain Cancer
The drug Avastin should be approved to treat patients with the incurable brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme, says a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel.
The 10-0 vote was helped by Roche Holding AG's promise to conduct a large study to collect more definitive data on the drug's benefits, Bloomberg news reported.
An FDA decision on the drug is expected by May 5. The agency usually follows the advice of its advisory panels.
If approved, Avastin would be the first new drug treatment for relapsed brain tumors in more than a decade. Currently, Avastin is approved for treatment of advanced colon, lung and breast cancers, Bloomberg reported.
Each year, about 10,000 Americans are diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme.