For Consumers
Consumer Updates: Drugs
Consumer Updates are timely articles that cover product approvals, safety warnings, and other health information for you and your family. You can sign up to receive e-mail alerts about new articles immediately after they are posted on FDA's Web site, or on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. You can also sign up for an RSS feed. Some of these articles are available in Spanish.
Consumer Updates related to drugs are featured on this page. New drugs must be proven safe and effective to FDA's satisfaction before companies can market them. If FDA grants an approval, it means the agency has determined that the benefits of the product outweigh the risks for the intended use. After drugs are approved, they continue to be evaluated through postmarketing surveillance—a system that monitors a drug's safety on an ongoing basis. Drugs are regulated by FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER).
Drugs
- Facing Facts About Acne
- FDA Expands Access to Investigational Drugs
- FDA's MedWatch Safety Alerts: August 2009
- Warning on Body Building Products Marketed as Containing Steroids or Steroid-Like Substances
- Treating Head Lice
- FDA Warns of Health Risks Posed by E-Cigarettes
- Reporting Drug Quality Problems
- Tablet Splitting: A Risky Practice
- FDA Takes Action on Darvon and Other Pain Medications
- Chantix and Zyban to Get Boxed Warning on Serious Mental Health Events
- Advertencia sobre productos para fisicoculturismo comercializados como productos que contienen esteroides o sustancias similares a los esteroides
- Acetaminophen and Liver Injury: Q & A for Consumers
- El acetaminofeno y las lesiones hepáticas: Preguntas y respuestas para los consumidores
- FDA Advisory About Levemir Insulin
- Warnings on Three Zicam Intranasal Zinc Products
- Are You Taking Medication as Prescribed?
- Giving Medication to Children
- Consumers Warned Not to Use Clarcon Skin Products
- FDA's MedWatch Safety Alerts: June 2009
- Advertencias sobre tres productos intranasales Zicam que contienen cinc
- La FDA promueve la apertura y la transparencia hacia el público
- FDA Promotes Openness and Transparency to Public
- New Labeling Required for OTC Pain and Fever Medicines
- H1N1 Flu: FDA Responds Quickly to Protect the Public's Health
- Safety Concerns About Testosterone Gel
- FDA's MedWatch Safety Alerts: April 2009
- Itching for Allergy Relief?
- FDA 101: Clinical Trials and Institutional Review Boards
- Safety Concerns and Labeling Changes for Psoriasis Drug Raptiva
- On the Road Again: FDA's Mobile Laboratories
- More Weight Loss Products Added to Consumer Alert
- Insulin Pens are Not for Sharing
- FDA's MedWatch Safety Alerts: March 2009
- Your Guide to Reporting Problems to FDA
- FDA 101: How to Use the Consumer Complaint System and MedWatch
- Developing Orphan Products: FDA and Rare Disease Day
- The Possible Dangers of Buying Medicines Over the Internet
- Should Your Child Be in a Clinical Trial?
- Medications for High Blood Pressure
- Coping with Memory Loss
- Find the Latest Drug Product and Safety Information
- Improper Use of Skin Numbing Products Can Be Deadly
- Genetically Engineered Animals Diagram
- Understanding Antidepressant Medications
- Prescription Drug Leaflets Need Improvement
- Mejoras necesarias en los prospectos de los medicamentos de venta con receta
- Kidney Risk Spurs Warning on Bowel Cleansers
- Some Medications and Driving Don't Mix
- FDA and WebMD Form Partnership
- La FDA advierte a Bayer acerca de dos productos de Aspirina no aprobados
- Avoiding Drug Interactions
- FDA Safety Update: Asthma Medications
- FDA 101: Product Recalls - From First Alert to Effectiveness Checks
- 6 Tips to Avoid Medication Mistakes
- FDA Warns Bayer About Two Unapproved Aspirin Products Questions and Answers for Consumers
- Using Over-the-Counter Cough and Cold Products in Children
- New Generic Drug Program: Q & A with Gary J. Buehler
- New Initiative to Improve Availability of Generics
- Keeping Watch Over Direct-to-Consumer Ads
- Vaccines Stand Ready for Upcoming Flu Season
- Sun Safety: Save Your Skin!
- Outsmarting Poison Ivy and Other Poisonous Plants
- New Steps to Improve Advisory Committee Processes
- Strengthening the Advisory Committee Process
- Living with Fibromyalgia, Drugs Approved to Manage Pain
- Stronger Warnings Requested for Fluoroquinolones
- FDA 101: Advisory Committees
- Cómo desechar los medicamentos sin usar
- Stay Healthy While Traveling Abroad
- Beware of Bug Bites and Stings
- Sea cuidadoso de fraude del cáncer en línea
- Warning for Regranex—Cream for Leg and Foot Ulcers
- Inhaladores de albuterol: El momento de la transición
- Albuterol Inhalers: Time to Transition
- Pregnant Women to Benefit from Better Information
- Sentinel System to Monitor Medical Product Safety
- An FDA Guide to Drug Safety Terms
- Facts About Crohn's Disease
- Combating Antibiotic Resistance
- Bio-Identicals: Sorting Myths from Facts
- Use Caution with Over-the-Counter Creams, Ointments
- Sea cuidadoso con las cremas y los ungüentos de venta sin receta médica
- FDA 101: Medication Errors
- Generic Drug Roundup: March 2008
- Nexium Approved for Children 1 to 11 Years Old
- FDA's Strategic Plan: Charting Our Course for the Future
- "My Medicines" … This Brochure Can be a Lifesaver
- New Safety Warnings for Chantix
- Serious Health Risks with Antiepileptic Drugs
- Thyroid Medications: Q & A with Mary Parks, M.D.
- Ongoing Review of Cholesterol Drug Vytorin
- Update to Label on Birth Control Patch
- OTC Cough and Cold Products: Not For Infants and Children Under 2 Years of Age
- Second Safety Warning on Fentanyl Skin Patch
- Warning Required for Nonoxynol 9 Over-the-Counter Contraceptives
- Workshop on Over-the-Counter Drug Use in Adolescents
- Modificación de rotulación del medicamento contra la diabetes Avandia
- Labeling Revised for Diabetes Drug Avandia
- Nonprescription Zyrtec-D for Allergies
- Recognizing Potentially Unsafe Imported Toothpastes
- Ensuring the Safety of Imported Products: Q & A with Deborah Ralston
- Lamisil Approved to Treat Scalp Ringworm in Children
- Serious Side Effects with Cancer Pain Drug
- Nuevo Programa de Medicamentos Genéricos de la FDA Preguntas y respuestas con Gary J. Buehler, RPh.
- FDA Launches Drug Safety Newsletter
- Improving Medical Products for Children: Q & A with Dianne Murphy, M.D.
- Evista Approved for Reducing Breast Cancer Risk
- The Critical Path: Making Medical Products Better, Faster, and Cheaper
- Building a Stronger Defense Against Bioterrorism
- FDA Aims to Upgrade Sunscreen Labeling
- Drug Approved to Treat Two Psychiatric Conditions in Children and Adolescents
- The Skinny on Liposuction
- Warning for Nursing Mothers Taking Codeine
- Use Caution with Cough and Cold Medicines for Children
- Stronger Heart Warning on Diabetes Drugs
- Improving Access to HIV/AIDS Drugs Abroad
- New HIV Drug for Adults
- Ad Spotlights Teen Abuse of Medicinal Drugs
- Beware of Ticks … & Lyme Disease
- Removing Hair Safely
- New Option for Rare Form of Hypertension
- Nueva información de seguridad con respecto a la droga Rosiglitazone tratamiento de la diabetes
- Medication Guides for Certain Prescription Products
- The Special Risks of Pharmacy Compounding
- Managing Drug Safety Issues Q and A with Paul Seligman, M.D., M.P.H.
- Strengthening Drug Safety
- New Safety Information on Diabetes Drug Rosiglitazone
- Risks for ADHD Drugs Outlined in Patient Guides
- New Ointment to Treat Impetigo
- New Warnings Proposed for Antidepressants
- Stronger Warning Proposed for Xolair
- Stronger Warning Proposed for Xolair
- Withdrawal of Parkinson's Treatment - Pergolide
- Nueva iniciativa para mejorar la disponibilidad de medicamentos genéricos
- The Benefits and Risks of Pain Relievers Q & A on NSAIDs with Sharon Hertz, M.D.
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