Search results below include Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles where your
selected drug is a secondary subject of discussion.
January 2021
We previously designated Duavee as “Do Not Use for Seven Years” because, at the time of its approval by the FDA in 2013, it did not represent a clear clinical breakthrough over standard hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women. Learn why we have now updated our designation of the drug to Do Not Use.
March 2020
Learn why women should avoid using BRISDELLE, the first and only nonhormonal drug approved by the FDA for treatment of hot flashes associated with menopause.
March 2020
New research linking menopausal hormone use to an increased risk of breast cancer reaffirms the importance of using such hormone therapies at the lowest effective dose and for the shortest duration needed.
April 2018
When the beta blocker nebivolol was approved by the FDA in 2007, we advised readers not to use the drug until 2015, in accordance with our seven-year rule. Find out why we now have designated nebivolol as Limited Use and whether it is the right choice for treating hypertension.
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.
March 2014
Learn about new drugs approved by the FDA in 2013 that Worst Pills Best Pills has identified as dangerous or ineffective. The drugs include two for diabetes, two for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and an over-the-counter drug for overactive bladder, among others.
January 2014
A newly marketed drug for treating hot flashes of menopause, BRISDELLE, is a lower dose of the familiar antidepressant PAXIL. This article discusses its risks and barely-evident effectiveness.
September 2012
The article reviews the effectiveness and safety of a variety of drugs and strategies to help people stop smoking but also stresses the importance of interpersonal support for those trying to quit this deadly habit.
June 2011
This article lists 355 drugs with names that are often confused with similar-sounding drug names. Find out what you can do to prevent getting the wrong drug.
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.
August 2008
The article discusses 273 drugs that can have harmful interactions with alcohol. Also reviewed are several ways in which these harmful interactions can occur:
1/ Medications Can Increase Alcohol Blood Levels
2/ Additive effects of medications and alcohol. One of the best- known drug-alcohol interactions is when alcohol, a depressant, is taken with other sedative medications, and excessive sedation or depression of respiration can occur
3/Alcohol can increase the blood levels of some medications leading to toxicity of these drugs.
4/ Alcohol also can reduce blood levels of some medications causing them to be less effective.
Although some of the interactions between alcohol and medications mainly occur in people who drink heavily (three or more drinks on one occasion), many of these interactions may occur with much lower amounts of alcohol use, such as one to two drinks on an occasion.
We strongly urge you to tell your physicians and other health care providers how much alcohol you are drinking so they can effectively assess the risks and advise you about the safe use of alcohol and medications.
June 2008
Codeine is routinely converted to morphine in the body in order for it to be an effective painkiller. The metabolism of codeine to morphine takes place through the actions of an enzyme in the liver. The article explains how various drugs and or a person's genetic makeup can greatly influence the conversion of codeine to morphine, making its pain-relieving properties too week if not enough conversion occurs and resulting in what amounts to an overdose at the recommended dose if the conversion to morphine is too rapid. Fourteen drugs that inhibit the conversion to morphine are listed in the article.
December 2007
This article explains how to understand the International Normalized Ratio (INR), a test applied to a sample of a patient’s blood to determine how “thin” it is when you are using the blood thinner COUMADIN (warfarin). In addition, the article lists more than 50 drugs or dietary supplements that can interact harmfully with COUMADIN to cause the blood to be too thin (abnormal bleeding) or not thin enough which could result in lessening the effect of COUMADIN in stopping blood clot formation.
October 2003
You should try the non-pharmacologic interventions listed in the box below before trying antacids, histamine-2 blockers, or, as a last resort, proton pump inhibitors.
If you classify yourself as a person with frequent heartburn, that is heartburn more than two days per week, and the interventions recommended above have failed, you should be under the care of a physician
September 2003
Canadian drug regulatory authorities reviewed reported cases of serotonin syndrome in the July 2003 issue of the Canadian Adverse Reaction Newsletter. The serotonin syndrome is a potentially life-threatening adverse drug reaction involving an excess of serotonin, a naturally occurring nerve transmitter.
July 2003
You should check the list of drugs that can cause loss of bladder control before starting drug treatment for this condition. You may be able to change from a drug that causes loss of bladder control to a drug that does not or alter the dose. This may be enough to solve the problem.
June 2003
You should follow the Health Research Group’s Seven Year Rule with aripiprazole. There is no evidence to suggest that aripiprazole is a “breakthrough” drug.
March 2003
You should avoid these "new" single mirror images of old drugs, not out of concern about their safety or effectiveness, but because they are the same as the old drugs. In the long run, they cause economic harm both to individuals and to the health care system because they have come on the market with extended monopoly protection. Article lists some examples.
January 2003
Escitalopram (LEXAPRO) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August 2002 and brings to six the number of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants now on the market in the U.S. The primary purpose for developing escitalopram appears to be nothing more than a strategy to protect sales as citalopram nears the end of its patent protection. In the long run, escitalopram will cause economic harm to individuals and the healthcare system.
August 2002
Dexmethylphenidate (FOCALIN), approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 2001 for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), joins a growing list of Do Not Use drugs, so called because they primarily result in economic harm to both individuals and the health care system. These drugs exist solely to extend a manufacturer’s brand name monopoly position in a lucrative market but offer nothing better than the drugs they replace.
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