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The anti-seizure drug Topamax — also taken for migraines — appears to raise the risk of kidney stones, U.S. researchers said Tuesday. (Source: United Press International – Health Business)

Genzyme Corp. will challenge federal reimbursement rates for its osteoarthritis treatment because it says current levels are below market price and could discourage the product’s use. (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Health Insurance headlines)

Pharmacotherapy: Official Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy 26(11): 1608-1615 In recent years, the frequency of antidepressant drug-induced sexual dysfunction has increased, along with the use of new drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation. It has thus become common for pharmacists to counsel patients about sexual issues. Pharmacists must not only become knowledgeable about these drugs and their indications, but they must also become skilled and comfortable with counseling patients and answering questions from both patients and other health care providers. In addition to therapeutic information, pharmacists’ discussions with patients should take into account factors that contribute to treatment nonadherence and treatment failure. Patient…

If you take drugs like Prilosec or Prevacid to treat your chronic heartburn or acid reflux disease, you may end up with another unwanted problem — bad breath. (Source: Medical Headlines From Ivanhoe.com)

Most Medicare prescription drug plans in 2007 will not cover erectile dysfunction treatments such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Many plans covered the treatments this year. According to the Post-Dispatch, “[m]any beneficiaries are learning of the change this week as they receive materials explaining next year’s benefits. [click link for full article] (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)

The EU has approved expanded indications for pregabalin capsules (Lyrica) and infliximab injection (Remicade).Medscape Medical NewsYael Waknine (Source: Medscape Gastroenterology Headlines)

SMC accepts Bimatoprost (Ganfort) for the reduction of intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension (1-page PDF) SMC accepts Lercanidipine (Zanidip) for the treatment of mild to moderate essential hypertension in patients for whom this is an appropriate antihypertensive agent (1-page PDF) SMC accepts Levetiracetam (Keppra) for use as additional therapy in the treatment of partial onset seizures in adults and children from 4 years of age with epilepsy (1-page PDF) SMC accepts Entecavir (Baraclude) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus infection (7-page PDF) SMC accepts Zoledronic acid for the treatment of Paget’s bone disease (7-page PDF) SMC accepts Etoricoxib (Arcoxia) for the symptomatic relief of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis an…

Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) (Source: CEBMH News | News Front Page)

A case report in the BMJ describes the development of epileptic seizures in a healthy 60 year old man following high doses of oral vardenafil (Levitra®). He had been prescribed 10mg for sexual dysfunction, but because of lack of efficacy, he had increased the dose himself to 40mg. Three hours later, he had a tonic-clonic seizure, and was admitted to hospital. Neurological and cardiac tests were all normal. He was told to stop using vardenafil. Two months later he had a new tonic-clonic seizure 4 hours after taking 30mg of vardenafil. At 8 months’ follow-up, he was seizure-free without treatment. The authors note that convulsions were not reported to Bayer during clinical trials of vardenafil. However, people on sildenafil have had seizures. In addition, recent evidence indicates that…

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has accepted for use in NHS Scotland, levetiracetam infusion (Keppra®) for use as additional therapy in the treatment of partial onset seizures in adults and children from 4 years of age, with epilepsy. (Source: NeLM Headline News)