Regulatory and Washington

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration will review the safety of energy drinks containing such stimulants as caffeine in response to a letter from two senators.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Indian generic drug maker Wockhardt received three new drug approvals from the Food and Drug Administration, agency records show.

NEW YORK — Ranbaxy Labs has recalled more than three dozen lots of its generic version of a cholesterol-lowering statin drug due to the possible presence of foreign particles, the company said.

WASHINGTON — Consumer spending could drop by almost $200 billion next year while depressing real consumer-spending growth by 1.7% if middle-class taxes rise in response to the fiscal cliff, according to a report released Monday by a White House economic team.

WASHINGTON — Many health insurance plans are failing to provide coverage mandated by the healthcare reform law for treatments to help smokers and other tobacco users quit, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids reported Monday, citing a study of insurance contracts by Georgetown University researchers that the group commissioned. 

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday announced the approval of Novartis' Flucelvax, the first seasonal influenza vaccine licensed in the United States produced using cultured animal cells, instead of fertilized chicken eggs. Flucelvax is approved to prevent seasonal influenza in people ages 18 years and older.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Tuesday publicly urged congressional leaders to make headway in avoiding the upcoming fiscal cliff if expiring tax cuts aren't reinstated. 

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Pharmacist’s Ultimate Health of St. Paul, Minn., and its president, Stephen J. Poindexter, have been barred from distributing any "unapproved new drugs" that the company had distributed under the guise that they were dietary supplements. 

The consent decree of permanent injunction that had been sought by the Food and Drug Administration was signed by U.S. District Judge David Doty of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota on Nov. 6.