Retail Clinics

ALEXANDRIA, Va. American Diabetes Month will be celebrated this November, and the group leading the fight to end the disease is encouraging others to join the movement.

Shortly after announcing that "Celebrity Apprentice" winner and Poison frontman Bret Michaels joined its "Stop Diabetes" movement, the American Diabetes Association has launched the "Share Your Vision to Stop Diabetes" video contest, and has asked Americans to:

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa. McNeil Consumer Healthcare has pulled a lot of Tylenol off the market, following complaints of a musty odor.

McNeil said the uncharacteristic odor is thought to be caused by the presence of trace amounts of a chemical called 2,4,6-tribromoanisole. The lot of Tylenol 8-Hour, 50-count bottles are part of lot number BCM155 and carry the following UPC code: 3 0045-0297-51 8.

JERUSALEM The Food and Drug Administration granted approval for Teva's abbreviated new drug application to market a generic version of a drug designed to treat peptic ulcers.

The generic drug maker said that its drug, lansoprazole, is a generic version of Takeda’s Prevacid SoluTab. Annual sales of the branded product were approximately $453 million in the United States, according to IMS sales data.

Sandoz, the generics division of Swiss drug maker Novartis, also announced the launch of its own version of Prevacid SoluTab.

CHICAGO Spurred by a difficult economy, over-the-counter medications increasingly are playing a dual role for consumers looking to minimize healthcare expenditures, the SymphonyIRI Group found in a new research paper titled “Over-the-Counter Medications: State of the Industry 2010” that was released last week.

NEW YORK Fera Pharmaceuticals has launched a preservative-free ointment for treating bacterial infections of the eye, the company said Monday.

Fera said the launch of Garamycin (gentamicin sulfate) was to meet an unmet need for a preservative-free version of the drug. The Food and Drug Administration had received reports of allergic reactions in infants who had received formulations of the drug with preservatives.

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. A local Blue Cross chapter has gained national recognition for its pilot diabetes program.

Anthem Blue Cross' health equities pilot is 1-of-7 programs recognized this year with a Best of Blue Clinical Distinction Award, an award developed by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and the Harvard Medical School department of healthcare policy, Anthem Blue Cross said.

MORRISTOWN, N.J. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a Watson Pharmaceuticals generic drug for treating high blood pressure, Watson said Friday.

The company announced the FDA approval of amlodipine besylate and benazepril capsules in the 5/20-mg, 10/20-mg, 2.5/10-mg and 5/10-mg strengths.

The drug is a generic version of Novartis’ Lotrel. Branded and generic versions of the drug had sales of around $1.05 billion during the 12-month period ended in June, according to IMS Health.

NEW YORK More young adults, particularly young women, are being hospitalized for diabetes-related issues, according to a new study.

The study — published online in the Oct. 12 edition of Journal of Women's Health, led by Joyce Lee of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and colleagues — evaluated hospital discharges with a primary or secondary diagnosis of diabetes from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample between 1993 and 2006.