Retail Clinics

HAWTHORNE, N.Y. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a generic over-the-counter treatment for allergies made by Taro Pharmaceutical Industries.

Taro announced Monday the approval of cetirizine hydrochloride oral solution.

The drug, a generic version of Johnson & Johnson’s children’s Zyrtec, is used to relieve symptoms of indoor and outdoor allergies and is available in a sugar-free bubblegum flavor.

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — Bayer has launched a reformulated aspirin called Bayer Advanced Aspirin that works in less than half the time of the company's regular aspirin, according to published reports.

According to yet-to-be-published research, the new Bayer Advanced Aspirin can begin providing meaningful pain relief in as little as 16 minutes, compared with an average 100 minutes for the company's mainstay brand.

NEW YORK — Such mood disorders as anxiety and depression may be a precursor to diabetes in Latinos, according to a study by University of California at San Diego researchers scheduled for presentation at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in Honolulu.

As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the researchers found that while Latinos have higher-than-average rates of diabetes, they also seem to have higher-than-average risk of having both diabetes and a mood disorder.

ABBOTT PARK, Ill. — A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee has voted to recommend that the FDA retain approval of an Abbott drug for high cholesterol in combination with a statin.

The FDA’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee met Thursday to discuss whether to recommend continued FDA approval of Trilipix (fenofibric acid) in combination with simvastatin in patients with mixed dyslipidemia and a high risk of heart disease. The FDA is not bound by advisory committee votes, but usually follows them.

ATLANTA — Swimmer’s ear accounts for as many as 2.4 million doctor visits and nearly $500 million in healthcare costs annually, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published Thursday in its "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" found.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Researchers at the University of Alabama in Birmingham found that controlling fat intake could help cut one's risk of developing diabetes.

To examine this, researchers divided 69 overweight nondiabetics, who were at risk for the disease, into two groups, placing the subjects on a diet with modest reductions in either fat or carbohydrate for eight weeks. The lower fat group received a diet comprised of 27% fat and 55% carbohydrate; the lower carbohydrate group's diet was 39% fat and 43% carbohydrate.

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa. — Adflow Health Networks announced a large-scale deployment of its consumer health platform.

Adflow Health Networks' Personal Health Center, an interactive digital media platform, provides consumers with access to trusted healthcare content and services, together with the ability to perform a wide range of Food and Drug Administration-cleared screenings, Adflow Health said. The full-scale deployment includes implementation across retail locations, worksites and high traffic areas.

ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted an attention-grabbing page Wednesday titled: “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse.”

“There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for,” the CDC stated on the Web page. “Take a zombie apocalypse for example. … You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.”