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After evaluating a safety signal regarding pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer in patients using incretin-based drugs, the Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency conclude that assertions of a causal association are inconsistent with the data. With approximately 25.8 million diabetic patients in the United States and 33 million in the European Union alone, the growing prevalence of diabetes worldwide poses a major public health challenge. Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are committed to ensuring the safety of drug products marketed for the treatment of diabetes, and postmarketing reports of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer in patients taking certain antidiabetic medications have been of concern to both agencies. Working in parallel, the agencies have reviewed nonclinical toxicology studies, clinical trial data, and epidemiologic data pertaining to blood glucose-lowering ...

Purpose Evaluate whether a 15-minute lecture intervention will improve adverse drug reaction reporting quality on standard MedWatch forms. Methods Seventy-eight 4th-year medical students were randomized to intervention ‘Group-A’ or non-intervention ‘Group-B’ on the first day of a required five-day clinical pharmacology rotation. Group-A participants attended a 15-minute lecture on completing a MedWatch form with quality information considered by the Food and Drug Administration as critical to adequate adverse drug reaction reporting. Group-B participants did not attend this lecture. Both groups then watched a standardized patient interview of a recognizable adverse drug reaction and completed MedWatch forms. Four Safety Evaluators from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rated student responses in a blinded fashion for the primary efficacy variable of Overall Impression and six informational domins using a standardized data quality analysis form that was developed within the Office of Postmarketing Drug Risk Assessment of the FDA. Results Seventy-eight MedWatch forms were evaluated (Group-A=40, Group-B = 38). Overall MedWatch information quality scores for the intervention group were significantly higher than the non-intervention group (p

After weighing the risks and benefits, the FDA recently approved two new drugs as adjuncts to a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity for chronic weight management in obese or overweight adults with at least one weight-related coexisting condition.

On January 25, the FDA approved liraglutide, a glucagon-like-peptide-1 receptor agonist that can improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes. Drs. Mary Parks and Curtis Rosebraugh discuss the benefits and potentially serious safety concerns associated with this new therapy.