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FDA has approved an antipsychotic medication, haloperidol injection, USP (Sagent Pharmaceuticals), indicated for use in the treatment of schizophrenia and for the control of tics and vocal utterances of Tourette's disorder.

The first step toward a national electronic system that will transform FDA?s ability to track the safety of drugs, biologics, and medical devices is up and running, according to a recent press release announcing the Mini-Sentinel Pilot project.

FDA approves orphenadrine

FDA has approved orphenadrine citrate injection, USP (Sagent Pharmaceuticals) a skeletal muscle relaxant as an adjunct to rest, physical therapy, and other measures to support relief from acute, painful musculoskeletal conditions.

Drugs such as Taxol, Cytarabine, Daunorubicin, Doxil, and Leucovorin are in short supply, delaying patients with various forms of cancer from getting the treatments they need or forcing them to seek alternative, possibly less-effective treatments, FDA announced recently.

FDA is alerting healthcare professionals that repackaged intravitreal injections of Roche Holdings' Avastin (bevacizumab) have caused a cluster of serious eye infections in the Miami, Fla., area.

FDA has approved onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox, Allergan) for injection for the treatment of urinary incontinence resulting from detrusor overactivity associated with a neurologic condition (eg, spinal cord injury [SCI], multiple sclerosis [MS]) in adults who have an inadequate response to or are intolerant of an anticholinergic medication.

Colchicine, a widely used drug for the prevention and treatment of gout flares, interacts dangerously with many commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals, such as antibiotics, anti-hypertensive drugs, anti-fungals, immunosuppresants and protease inhibitors, according to a study published in the August issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism. However, most patients can take colchicines safely with these medications as long as the dose is adjusted, the study indicated.

FDA has approved tapentadol extended-release tablets (Nucynta ER, Janssen Pharmaceuticals), an oral analgesic taken twice daily, for the management of moderate-to-severe chronic pain in adults when a continuous, around-the-clock opioid analgesic is needed for an extended period of time.

Management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: An emphasis on recently approved medications and products in the pipeline; Focus On Boceprevir: A new oral protease inhibitor for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C

The United States healthcare system is one of the least cost-effective in reducing mortality rates; while the United Kingdom is among the most cost-effective, according to a recent study published in the July issue of Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Short Reports.

Once-daily oral rivaroxaban (Xarelto, Bayer), a direct factor Xa inhibitor, appears to be as effective as dose-adjusted warfarin in preventing stroke or major embolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, according to a study published online August 10 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Antibacterial drug use in children is associated with a dose-dependant increased risk of acquiring community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (Ca-MRSA), according to the results of a population-based, case-control study reported online August 1 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.