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• Valproate drugs pose risks for pregnant women and women of childbearing age (May 16, 2013)
• Liver toxicity risks with Samsca (May 6, 2013)

  View the entire May 2013 issue in PDF format

• What Dangers Are Hidden in Your Weight-Loss Supplement?
  (May 2013)
  The article reviews evidence that quite often, to "enhance" the effectiveness of usually ineffective dietary supplements for weight loss, companies are illegally lacing such products with the dangerous, now-banned prescription weight-loss drug sibutramine (MERIDIA). Male-enhancement and muscle-building supplements also often illegally hide dangerous drugs in unknown quantities.
• Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative
  (May 2013)
  A study documents how little information about important drug risks is disclosed by the drug salespeople who visit so many doctors. Their strategy for increasing sales: Accentuate the positive and almost entirely eliminate the negative about these medicines.
• Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs Linked to Increased Shingles Risk
  (May 2013)
  The article discusses evidence that five widely used drugs for rheumatoid arthritis can increase the risk of shingles. If you are using one of these drugs, learn what you can do to reduce such risks.
• More on the New Stroke Prevention Drugs
  (May 2013)
  An update on last month's article about three relatively new, widely used stroke prevention drugs: dabigatran (PRADAXA), rivaroxaban (XARELTO) and apixaban (ELIQUIS).
• New Hypertension Drug Poses Breathing Risks
  (May 2013)
  The article discusses possible breathing risks of nebivolol (BYSTOLIC)and how other, older drugs — just as effective as this relatively new high blood pressure drug — are preferred because more is known about their risks.

  View the entire April 2013 issue in PDF format

• Hypertension Drugs Plus NSAIDs May Injure Kidneys
  (April 2013)
  Recent evidence points to increased acute kidney injury associated with combining nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) with two antihypertensive drugs: a diuretic plus either an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB). Find out the names of these drugs. This is especially important for patients with hypertension, diabetes, congestive heart failure or chronic kidney disease, because such patients are routinely treated with diuretics, ACE inhibitors and ARBs.
• Are European Women Different From U.S. Women?
  (April 2013)
  Last summer, the European equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration told Europeans not to use a particular drug for osteoporosis. Learn about this drug, which has been used by more than 100,000 U.S. women since then despite evidence of increased cancer risk.
• Emerging Risks With New Stroke Prevention Drugs
  (April 2013)
  Learn about three new drugs to prevent stroke – so new that their risks relative to those of a much older drug, warfarin (Coumadin), are unknown.
• Sleeping Pill Poses Safety Risks
  (April 2013)
  Learn about new warnings concerning multiple formulations of a widely used sleeping pill. The levels of the drug remaining in the blood the morning after use may be high enough to impair activities requiring mental alertness, including driving.

  View the entire March 2013 issue in PDF format

• Overusing Medications Can Cause Headaches
  (March 2013)
  What kind of headache is not relieved by pain medications but actually caused by their frequent overuse? The article describes which painkillers can cause medication overuse headaches (MOH) when used too frequently over specified durations of time.
• The FDA Must Restrict the Use of Prescription Narcotic Hydrocodone
  (March 2013)
  Find out why the most commonly prescribed drug of any kind in the U.S., hydrocodone, needs tighter restrictions to prevent emergency room visits, overdose deaths and other serious consequences of its massive overuse. Production and use of hydrocodone in this country amounts to 99 percent of that for the entire world. Is the rest of the world wrong and we are right?
• Troubling New Drug Approvals in 2012
  (March 2013)
  Find out which drugs approved in 2012 have risks greatly exceeding their benefits or no meaningful benefits. If you are using any of the DO NOT USE drugs reviewed in the article, talk to your doctor before stopping their use.
• Inappropriate Prescribing of Medicines in the Elderly: A Persistent Problem
  (March 2013)
  Approximately 20 percent of prescriptions for elderly patients in primary care settings are inappropriate, leading to adverse reactions that are entirely preventable. The article lists some of the most common inappropriately prescribed drugs.

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• Letter to FDA Demanding Explanation for Dangerous Delay Between Identifying Problems and Public Recall of Potentially Contaminated Products Distributed by Balanced Solutions Compounding Pharmacy (April 22, 2013)
  Public Citizen requests an explanation for the unacceptable one-month delay between the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) inspection of Axium Healthcare Pharmacy (dba Balanced Solutions Compounding Pharmacy), which was finished on March 15, 2013 and identified serious quality control problems related to the production of sterile drugs, and the subsequent nationwide voluntary recall of all lots of sterile products compounded by this pharmacy on April 17, 2013.
• Letter to the Editor of The Washington Post Criticizing FDA for its Failure to Regulate Drug Manufacturing by Compounding Pharmacies (April 21, 2013)
  In a letter to the editor of The Washington Post, Public Citizen responded to the April 12 front-page article “FDA finds safety problems at specialized pharmacies.” The Food and Drug Administration must ensure that companies that engage in drug manufacturing under the guise of pharmacy compounding either scale down their operations or adhere to current federal regulations governing drug manufacturing.
• Testimony to the FDA’s Advisory Committee on Reproductive Health Drugs on Nasal Calcitonin for Osteoporosis (March 5, 2013)
  Calcitonin nasal spray, prescribed to treat osteoporosis since 1994, should be removed from the market because is not very effective for preventing fractures and may cause cancer and other serious side effects.
• Testimony to the FDA on gabapentin for menopausal symptoms (March 4, 2013)
  Public Citizen strongly opposes the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) approval of gabapentin for treatment of menopause-related vasomotor symptoms (VMS, which includes hot flashes and flushing) due to the drug's questionable benefits and well-established risks.
• Testimony to the FDA on paroxetine for menopausal symptoms (March 4, 2013)
  Public Citizen strongly opposes the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) approval of paroxetine for treatment of menopause-related vasomotor symptoms (VMS, which includes hot flashes and flushing) due to the drug's questionable benefits and well-established risks.