Search results below include Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles where your
selected drug is a secondary subject of discussion.
March 2018
Meclizine is a drug that is commonly used to treat symptoms of motion sickness. Find out why we have designated this drug as Do Not Use.
December 2011
Read about the results of a study comparing higher doses of saw palmetto extract with a placebo for treating some common symptoms of benign prostate enlargement (such as urinary retention and incomplete emptying of the bladder).
March 2009
Tamoxifen (NOLVADEX) is still widely and successfully used for treatment of breast cancer. However, when used along with certain other drugs, its effectiveness can be significantly reduced. The article explains how this can happen and lists 19 different drugs that can cause this serious problem if used with tamoxifen.
September 2008
A nationwide study published in spring 2008 in the Journal of Hospital Medicine showed that nearly half (49 percent) of almost 500,000 hospital patients older than 65 have been prescribed one or more of 92 drugs known to be unnecessarily unsafe for older patients. 10,000 of these patients had four or more of these inappropriate medicines prescribed during their hospitalization.
Among the most common categories of adverse drug reactions these inappropriately prescribed drugs can cause are excessive sedation, abnormally low blood pressure and bleeding. We list the 92 drugs in the article and give further details about the kinds of side effects these drugs can cause.
December 2007
This article summarizes 14 important health events that occurred in 2007, including seven that involve the pharmaceutical industry or its increasingly close financial partner, the FDA. Seven other reviews involve our so-called health care system.
August 2007
There is no medical reason that you should be taking levocetirizine (XYZAL) rather than one of the many other prescription and non-prescription antihistamines that are available in the market. The article discusses alternatives.
February 2005
This article will look at the potential savings for the individual consumer if the alternative treatments recommended in Worst Pills, Best Pills were used for six DO NOT USE drugs. All six are listed in the Drug Topics Magazine Top 200 selling drugs in U.S. in 2003. The drugs are: celecoxib (CELEBREX) used for arthritis and pain; the Alzheimer’s disease drug donepezil (ARICEPT); drospirenone with ethinyl estradiol (YASMIN 28), an oral contraceptive; esomeprazole (NEXIUM) the “new purple pill” for heartburn; montelukast (SINGULAIR), a drug approved for both asthma and hay fever; and valdecoxib (BEXTRA), an arthritis drug very similar to celecoxib.The combined sales of these six DO NOT USE drugs was $8.1 billion with more that 75 million prescriptions dispensed in 2003.
November 2003
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on January 23, 2003, approved the asthma drug montelukast (SINGULAIR) for the relief of symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever) in adults and children two years of age and older. Montelukast is a member of a family of drugs known as leukotriene inhibitors.You should not use montelukast for the treatment of hay fever symptoms because of its meager effectiveness and exorbitant cost.
February 2002
“Inappropriate medication use is a major patient safety concern, especially for the elderly population.” This is the first sentence of a study published in the December 12, 2001 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The majority of the 33 drugs in this study have been on the market for years........