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The Food and Drug Administration says menthol-flavored cigarettes raise critical public health questions, and likely pose a greater risk to the health of smokers than non-menthol cigarettes, The Wall Street Journal reports.

In an important step forward for victims of the past predatory marketing practices of Big Tobacco, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued last week its decision in Evans v. Lorillard, upholding $35 million in compensatory damages against Lorillard, the makers of mentholated Newport cigarettes.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday it has shut down 1,677 illegal online pharmacies, CNN reports. The websites sold counterfeit or substandard medications, or sold drugs without appropriate safeguards.

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced it had authorized the sale of two new cigarette products and rejected four others. It is the first time the agency has exercised its power to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products since it was given that authority in 2009.

The new head of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products said he will soon start ruling on whether the agency will approve 4,000 new and existing products.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday denied a request from the maker of the painkiller Opana ER to block generic forms of the drug. The decision came as a surprise, Reuters reports.

More than a dozen drug companies are working on abuse-resistant painkillers, in the wake of the Food and Drug Administration’s decision last month not to approve any generic versions of the original form of OxyContin.

The new head of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products, Mitch Zeller, has begun to review the risks of menthol in cigarettes, according to Bloomberg. He is also considering whether to increase the FDA’s authority over e-cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products.

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a challenge by the tobacco industry to a federal law requiring that cigarette packages carry graphic warning labels, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Some pain doctors say they are concerned the Food and Drug Administration’s decision earlier this week not to approve generic versions of the original version of OxyContin could lead to less effective drugs that are potentially addictive, NPR reports.

Five U.S. senators are calling on the Food and Drug Administration to restrict the sale, distribution and marketing of e-cigarettes and other nicotine products to children and young adults.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday it will not approve any generic versions of the original form of OxyContin. The move is aimed at preventing prescription drug abuse, Reuters reports.

A panel of the Food and Drug Administration this week will meet to decide whether to recommend approval of a new drug for smoking-related lung damage, Fox News reports.

Generic drug makers are waiting for the Food and Drug Administration to decide whether they must make tamper-resistant forms of OxyContin, or if they can produce the original version, The Wall Street Journal reports. OxyContin’s first patent expires Tuesday.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Monday it will relax restrictions on the use of over-the-counter nicotine replacement products.

A bipartisan group of legislators introduced a bill that would tighten restrictions on hydrocodone, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Safe Prescribing Act of 2013 follows recommendations made in January by a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel.

The U.S. government will not fight for graphic warning labels on cigarette packages, and will instead create new anti-smoking ads, Reuters reports.

The Food and Drug Administration told lawmakers this month that the process of reclassifying hydrocodone combination products, in order to make them more difficult to prescribe, will be long, The Hill reports.

Smokers can easily identify “light” and “mild” cigarettes, despite a federal law banning those words, because tobacco companies have substituted color names for those terms, a new study concludes.

Scientists can use data from Internet searches to learn about unreported side effects from prescription drugs, before they are found by the Food and Drug Administration, The New York Times reports.

The new head of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products is a longtime critic of the tobacco industry, The Wall Street Journal reports. Mitch Zeller’s appointment may signal stricter oversight of cigarette manufacturers, according to the newspaper.

Relatives of patients who overdosed on painkillers told federal regulators Thursday they want changes on the labels of narcotic painkillers, The Wall Street Journal reports. Pain patients concerned such action could limit their access to the medications spoke against the proposed changes.

The Food and Drug Administration is inviting public comment on possible changes to smokeless tobacco product warnings.

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel voted Friday to strengthen restrictions on hydrocodone combination drugs, such as Vicodin. The panel recommended that the FDA make the drugs more difficult to prescribe.

A top Drug Enforcement Administration official said this week the high rates of abuse of hydrocodone combination pills demonstrate physicians aren’t taking the risks of these medications seriously.