The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "unapproved medicine" ...
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Do It Yourself Plastic Surgery
Prescription strength chemicals and other procedures should not be done at home without a doctor. A number of websites are selling such products at a discount rate and many people are buying them and facing devastating consequences. These products are unapproved and experts say using these can result in “blindness, paralysis, or death”.
Tags: Botox; syringes; prescriptions; drugs; money; medications; medicine; Federal Drug Administration (FDA); skin
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Unapproved Drugs
The government is paying millions for risky medications that have never been reviewed for safety and effectiveness but are still covered under Medicaid, an Associated Press analysis of federal data has found. Tax payers have shelled out at least $200 million since 2004 for such drugs. Yet the Food and Drug Administration says unapproved prescription drugs are a public health problem, and some unapproved medications have been dozens of deaths. Millions of private patients are taking them as well, and their availability may create a false sense of security. The AP analysis found that Medicaid, which serves low-income people, paid nearly $198 million from 2004 to 2007 for more than 100 unapproved drugs. Data for 2008 were not available but unapproved drugs still are being sold. The AP checked the medications against FDA databases, using agency guidelines to determine if they were unapproved. The FDA says there may be thousands of such drugs on the market. The medications are mainly for common conditions like colds ad pain. They date back decades, before the FDA tightened its review of its review of drugs in the early 1960s. The FDA says it is trying to squeeze them from the market, but conflicting federal laws allow the Medicaid health program for low-income people to pay for them.
Tags: Medicaid; unapproved medicine; medical reporting; Food and Drug Administration; prescription drugs; medical review
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Killer Prescription Drugs Part 1 and 2
Anderson Cooper 360 examined the FDA loopholes for prescription drugs. Since 1984, drug makers have been allowed to sell drug without approval as long as they "determine that the product was similar to others already approved and on the market." In some cases these similar, but unapproved, drugs have lead patients' deaths.
Tags: medicine; pharmacy; FDA; prescription; Phenobarbital; E-Ferol; chloral hydrate
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Free Rein for Drug Ads?
The Food and Drug Administration has been slow to stop an alarming number of inaccurate drug advertisements, leaving consumers and the doctors that actually prescribe the medicines vulnerable to false or misleading messages. The investigation found ads that minimized prescription drug risks, exaggerated efficacy, made false claims of superiority over competing products, promoted unapproved uses of an approved drug, or promoted use of a drug still in the experimental stage. Such drug ads may contribute to excessive or inappropriate prescribing and to soaring prescription drug spending.
Tags: FDA; Food and Drug Administration; drug advertisements; consumers; FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research; Freedom of Information Electronic Reading Room; FDA regulatory letters; prescription drug risks; Tamiflu; drugmakers; corrective ads; Department of Health and Human Services; General Accounting Office; Fosamax; Ambien; AARP; Prilosec
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Off the Label: Staffers of Drug Maker Say It Pushed Product For Unapproved Use
The Journal reports on how doctors, paid by pharmaceutical companies, promote medicines before they are approved by the Food and Drug Administration or for off-label uses. The story focuses on the marketing practices of Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, known as RPR, producer of a new kind of drug for blood clots, called Lovenox.
Tags: medicine; health care; doctors; lawsuits; justice; Rhone-Poulenc Rorer; prescription drugs