MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'dilantin'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:38:07 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4197358&cid=t_127701_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F7souxMLZV4g%2F Earlier this year, a bill was introduced in New Jersey that would prevent pharmacists from switching anti-epilepsy pills over concerns that some patients have reacted poorly to generics that are deemed bioequivalent (read here). This has been a long-standing issue with epileptics, some of whom say the slightest difference can cause serious reactions, including seizures. Pfizer, for instance, encountered such complaints after it began marketing a new version of its venerable Dilantin drug and stopped selling Dilantin Kapseals in favor of new Dilantin capsules two years ago. In fact, a Maryland couple filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the drugmaker for switching its products after their son took the new version and later died of a grand mal seizure (back story). And so a New Jersey stat... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4197358 Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:43:04 +0100 4197358 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4013542&cid=t_127701_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2Fqg1tQYaJFjM%2F Three years ago, Pfizer made a seemingly curious move. The drugmaker began marketing a new version of its venerable Dilantin drug for treating epilepsy, and stopped selling Dilantin Kapseals in favor of new Dilantin capsules. The explanation? Manufacturing needed to be upgraded. But in doing so, the drugmaker upset some epileptics, who began reporting seizures after switching meds. There was unfortunate irony in the move. You may recall brand-name drugmakers often carp that generics lack bioequivalency, which refers to how a generic is absorbed differently in the body. Slight differences can cause some patients to experience problems after making a switch. Yet Pfizer placed itself on both sides of the argument. And at the same time, the Epilepsy Foundation, which the drugmaker has supporte... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4013542 Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:55:42 +0100 4013542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2999850&cid=t_127701_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FA60sgroNZLE%2F Those who take meds to cope with epilepsy will be interested to know that Congress has asked the FDA to examine epileptic drugs the agency considers to be therapeutically equivalent to other products. The disclosure was made in a conference report pertaining to an appropriations bill for the agency (see page 86). As the FDA Law Blog posits, the move is presumably related to questions about any “increased risk of seizures or toxic side effects when patients are switched from a brand name to a generic.” The issue has been raised before by the Epilepsy Foundation, the Washington Legal Foundation and a 2008 article in Neurology that changing from a brand to generic may result in seizures. Pfizer, you may recall, encountered similar concerns last year. That’s when the drugmak... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2999850 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:50:45 +0100 2999850 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1458854&cid=t_127701_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F295033345%2F One way that brand-name drugmakers fend off generic competition is to charge that a copycat version lacks bioequivalency, another way of saying the generic is absorbed differently in the body. Even though the FDA may have approved a generic as sufficiently similar to the brand-name med, slight differences can still cause some patients to experience problems if they switch drugs. In an unusual twist, Pfizer seems to have created a switching problem for itself. Last fall, the drugmaker began marketing a new version of its age-old Dilantin med for treating epilepsy. Citing a need to upgrade manufacturing, Pfizer stopped selling Dilantin Kapseals and began selling Dilantin capsules. But some epileptics are complaining that the new product is causing seizures. On one forum, for instance, Mike f... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1458854 Wed, 21 May 2008 13:16:03 +0100 1458854 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1411785&cid=t_127701_97_f&fid=35050&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmaGazette%2F%7E3%2F281058986%2Fdilantin_linked_to_bone_loss.html In a paper in the April issue of Neurology Dr Allison Pack details how research found that women taking the epilepsy drug dilantin showed a bone loss that was eight times higher than premenopausal women who had not taken any drugs for epilepsy."That suggests that if these women remain on this medication and have ongoing significant or accelerated bone loss that over time, they will be entering the peri-menopausal period with lower bone density and therefore a greater risk for low bone mineral density over time and therefore a higher risk of fractures," stated Pack.According to Dr. R. Eugene Ramsay, director of the International Center for Epilepsy at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, 90 percent of older people who have epileptic seizures are prescribed Dilantin d... PharmaGazette blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1411785 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:00:55 +0100 1411785 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1035616&cid=t_127701_122_f&fid=35055&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsarasotaneurology.com%2F2007%2F11%2F19%2Fseizures-medication-treatment-offers-hope-for-a-normal-lifestyle%2F Seizures are the manifestation of uncontrolled electrical activity in the brain. Affected individuals show clinical symptoms of seizures with twitching or jerking of one side or their entire body. With this they can make gasping noises, turn blue in the face, bite their tongue or lose control of their bladder. These symptoms are charateristic of a grand mal seizure. During an epileptic attacks, the person is not responsive or aware of what is going on around them. Fortunately there is excellent treatment available to control seizures and in many cases, keep patients seizure free. It is estimated that there are 2-3 million individuals in the United States who suffer from recurrent seizures (epilepsy.) Many of these people are neurologically intact with the cause of their seizures being unkn... Sarasota Neurology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1035616 Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:32:22 +0100 1035616 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=699265&cid=t_127701_87_f&fid=34865&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecancerblog.com%2F2007%2F06%2F27%2Fkidney-cancer-makes-david-foster-sick%2F Filed under: Kidney Cancer, BlogsDavid Foster was diagnosed with Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma in April 2005. Translation: stage four kidney cancer and the sixth deadliest form of cancer. Not a great disease to acquire. Also not the end of the world. Just ask David who is busy working as a National Strategic Advisor in Augusta, Georgia, headlining within the independent magazine community, hanging out with dog Gracie, and documenting his journey in a blog he calls David Foster's Kicking Kidney Cancer's Arse.He's no wimp, this guy. Just read his June 23 post, titled May kill me, but it ain't gonna beat me. He didn't let that hard-nosed kid Jerry whip him when he was eight -- he smacked him so hard in the lunchroom, Jerry was left stumbling and bleeding -- and he won't let cancer bully him e... The Cancer Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=699265 Wed, 27 Jun 2007 04:00:00 +0100 699265