Articles Posted in FDA

Zimmer Biomet initiated a voluntary recall of the Zimmer CPT Hip System to provide updated instructions on the risk of femur fracture. Zimmer Biomet also explained that they would stop selling this particular artificial hip by December 2024.

Kratom has yet to be approved by the FDA for any personal or medical use. The agency warns against using the substance until further scientific studies can be conducted.

Artificial hips offer many patients the opportunity to live active and full lives, but sometimes they don’t always work as intended. Thankfully, these are relatively rare situations. Unfortunately, if it’s your artificial hip that fails, there’s not much comfort in knowing the artificial hips in most other patients work as designed. Because an artificial hip…

Senators have sent a letter to the GAO asking them to update the 2011 report by investigating the FDA’s oversight of medical device recalls and identify ways the process could be improved.

During the course of surgery, a doctor may need to find a way to connect sections of organs or close wounds. One way to do this is through the use of sutures, a special type of thread. Another way is with the use of surgical staples. The Ethicon surgical stapler is pictured at right. Doctors…

Many of us suffer from heartburn, and one of the most popular ways to treat it is by taking Zantac. Until recently, Zantac was considered a very safe medication and was available without a prescription. Given how well it worked, along with its affordable price and the perception of safety, hundreds of thousands of people,…

Like many parents, vaping and e-cigarettes caught my wife and me by complete surprise. Two years ago we asked our oldest child how many kids he knew in his high school who were vaping. He said, “it will be much faster to list the kids who aren’t vaping.” We were stunned. We knew very little…

I’ve been writing about dangerous medical devices on this site for four years. Over that time I’ve reached thousands and thousands of people injured by these harmful implanted medical products. John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight, picked up the subject this week, and I am grateful to him and to HBO because he reached…

At some point in your life, a medical device will likely become a necessary part of your medical care. You may need external items such as hearing aids, blood glucose meters, insulin pumps, or feeding tubes. You may also need the help of surgically implanted medical devices like artificial hips, heart pacemakers, breast implants, spine…

On November 27, 2018, Teva Pharmaceuticals announced a huge recall of all products containing the medication valsartan. The prescription medications containing valsartan may contain chemicals that are considered possible carcinogens. So What is Valsartan? Valsartan is a drug used to treat hypertension, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and other conditions. It also improves health…