Dangerous Drugs

Michael R. Wilkinson was prescribed Invokana (otherwise referred to as canagliflozin) in order to help manage his diabetic condition. He began taking the drug in April 2015. By December that same year, he was forced to undergo an amputation of his right leg below the knee. Unaware of the possible connection between his use of…

The drug Invokana, also referred to as canagliflozin, is used to treat patients for Type 2 diabetes. Invokana first entered the market in 2013. Since then it has become one of the most widely used diabetes medications in the U.S. Alarmingly, the drug has been linked to a number of difference serious side effects and…

Fentanyl is often prescribed and used by medical professionals to help alleviate the short and long-term pain experienced by many patients recovering from injuries and surgical procedures. As a synthesized opioid, the drug is extremely powerful, with a potency of 50 to 100 times that of morphine. National Center for Health statistics show that of…

A major element adding to the tragedy of opioid abuse is the overprescribing of these substances to the general public. In 2012 alone, over 250 million opioid prescriptions were issued by healthcare professionals. Those numbers are staggering – equivalent to about one bottle of pills for every adult in America. As we take in the…

As the most potent pain medication in the prescription drugs marketplace, fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is 100 times more powerful than morphine. Due to its powerful ability to kill pain, the opioid is routinely used, among other drugs, for inducing anesthesia prior to surgery. It was in 1960 when Dr. Paul Janssen synthesized fentanyl for…

A new study shows the danger of certain antibiotics prescribed to women in early pregnancy due to the risk of birth defects. Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed antibiotic prescriptions filled by pregnant women who had urinary tract infections in their first trimester of pregnancy. They found that despite…

Insys Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company based in Arizona, is on the receiving end of a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Josh Stein of North Carolina. The lawsuit accuses the company of pushing Subsys, a fentanyl-based cancer pain medication at clinics that treat individuals with headache conditions in the state. Subsys is a type of spray…

When John Kapoor, former CEO of Insys Therapeutics Inc. maker of Subsys was arrested on racketeering conspiracy and other charges recently, he became the highest ranking pharmaceutical executive to be accused of a crime related to the opioid crisis, which his company and other Big Pharma companies helped to fuel with their incredibly powerful and…

Who does not like a happy, curious yellow Labrador puppy? Zoey, much like any three-month-old yellow lap pup, is curious and gets into everything around her – even things that could be deadly. A story in the Washington Post tells about one afternoon when Zoey’s owner took her for a walk near their home in…

The opioid epidemic has been raging through communities across the United States; the death toll of overdoses is up an incomprehensible rate of 22%; about 64,000 people died in 2016 from drug overdoses. A story in the New York Times reports that drug overdose is expected to remain the leading cause of death for Americans…