The Pharmablog

Officials say 70 percent of fireworks-related accidents happen between June 20th and July 20th every year, with the largest number of people injured by the devices falling into the 14- to 17-year-old age group.

According to Kaiser Health News, the hospital industry is about to agree to accept federal funding cuts of $150 billion to $170 billion over the next decade to help pay for efforts to reform the national healthcare system.

Experts say that if the FDA chooses to ban Vicodin and Percocet as its advisory panel suggests, the move won’t be too drastic because alternatives exist.

The popular prescription painkillers Vicodin and Percocet–which combine acetaminophen with a narcotic pain drug–should be banned, according to a panel of experts that advises the FDA.

An expert panel that advises the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says the maximum dose for pain medications that contain acetaminophen should be reduced to help curb deadly overdoses among users.

Makers of over-the-counter cold and flu products that contain the painkiller acetaminophen say their products should remain on the market despite concerns from U.S. regulators.

European drug regulators say the painkiller Darvocet (dextropropoxyphene, propoxyphene) should be pulled off the market because patients using the drug have been dying from overdoses.

Doctors discuss how pain drugs like Demerol and OxyContin–which some speculate may have caused pop star Michael Jackson’s death–can cause cardiac arrest.

The Los Angeles Coroner’s Offfice called the autopsy performed on the body of pop star Michael Jackson “inconclusive,” and he said it will take six to eight weeks before an official cause of death can be determined.

Friends and medical experts believe the narcotic painkiller Demerol was behind Michael Jackson’s sudden death from cardiac arrest.