The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Invokana, the first drug in a new class of type 2 diabetes medications that take an innovative approach to managing blood sugar levels. Developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson, Invokana (canagliflozin) belongs to a family of drugs called SGLT2 inhibitors. Unlike [...]

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Drug Safety Communication recently informing the public and health care professionals that the blood thinner Pradaxa (dabigatran) should not be used in people with mechanical heart valves. Forbes reported that the drug’s manufacturer, Boehringer Ingelheim, has told its Pradaxa clinical trial investigators that it will be sending [...]

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed one in nine people with type 2 diabetes had their blood sugar return to a normal level after one year on a diet and exercise program. Reuters reported on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study that presents an alternative for [...]

People who are younger, taller and heavier are more likely to need revision surgery after a primary total hip replacement surgery, according to a new study.  The study is the first of its kind in the United States. The results of the study were published in the December issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a [...]

A new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) have twice the risk of developing a blood clot when taking oral birth control. One of the study researchers, Dr. Christopher McCartney, told Reuters: “For some women, [the risks] might be high enough to say we really shouldn’t [...]

A jury in Baldwin County, Ala., has awarded $140 million to the family of a woman with diabetes who died as a result of a prescription error. The hospital and three other firms were ordered to pay the family of Sharron Juno, who died in 2008 at the age of 59 after she was given [...]

As the number of people in the United States suffering from diabetes rises, so does the rate of vision loss among Americans, a new study has found. Such nonrefractive visual impairment is serious and cannot be corrected by glasses. Instead, it requires surgery or laser treatment, said David Friedman, one of the authors of the [...]

It’s probably no surprise that overweight people are more likely than others to need total knee replacement (TKR) surgery, and they face more risks when they undergo the procedure. But a new study has found that any patient having TKR surgery is at risk of gaining weight afterward. Scientists analyzed data from 1,000 such operations [...]