Remicade Side Effects: Headache, Infections, Ulcerative Colitis

Remicade Side Effects. This month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is approving the use of Remicade (generic name: infliximab) to treat ulcerative colitis (UC) among children aged 6 years old and older “who have had inadequate response to conventional therapy.”

Says Donna Griebel, M.D., director of the Division of Gastroenterology and Inborn Errors Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research:

With the approval of Remicade, children with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis who have not had an adequate response to conventional treatment now have an FDA-approved treatment option. However, there are serious risks associated with its use. Patients and their families should always discuss with their physician the risks and benefits of using a medication before deciding to start treatment.

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Mefenamic Acid Side Effects: Hives, Swelling, Blurred Vision

Mefenamic Acid Side Effects. Did you ever experience having constipation or diarrhea after you took in mefenamic acid? According to the National Institututes of Health both conditions are two of the common side effects of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug marketed as Ponstan, Ponstal, Dolfenal and a lot of other brand names*.

Other side effects listed for mefenamic acid are gas or bloating, headache, dizziness, nervousness, and ringing in the ears. Should you experience any of the aforementioned side effects and if the symptoms are severe and would not go away, you should contact your doctor as soon as possible.

mefenamic acid side effects - constipation

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Zofran Side Effects: Adverse Patient Reactions to Ondansetron

Zofran Side Effects. Does Zofran (generic name: ondansetron) have side effects? Of course, all drugs have side effects. If your condition requires you to take in Zofran, you should be aware of the drug’s side effects.

Manufactured and marketed by GlaxoSmithKline, Zofran is a drug that prevents nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. Ondasetron is also being marketed by other drug companies under different trade/brand names such as: Zuplenz (Strativa Pharmaceuticals), Emeset (Cipla Ltd.), Emetron (Gedeon Richter Ltd.), Emodan (Korea United Pharmaceuticals), Ondemet(Zentiva a.s.), Setronax (Strides Arcolab), Ondansetron (Glenmark Generics Ltd. – India), and Ondavell (Novell Pharmaceutical Laboratories).

According to Medline Plus, the side effects of Zofran and the other ondansetron drugs include, diarrhea, headache, constipation, weakness, tiredness, and dizziness.

More serious side effects, which should be communicated to your doctor immediately, include the following: rashes, hives, itching, swelling of the eyes, face, lips, tongue, throat, hands, feet, ankles, or lower legs, hoarseness, difficulty breathing or swallowing, shortness of breath, and noisy high-pitched breathing.

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Universal Flu Vaccine Available Soon?

There’s no underestimating the destructive power of a flu pandemic. So far, there have been only five in human history, but the worst one, the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was so deadly. Spreading across the world, even to the Arctic and remote Pacific Islands, it infected almost a third of all the people at that time and killed between 50 million and 100 million people — at least three percent of the world’s population then.

Which is why scientists since then have been hard at work investigating molecular virology, genomics pathogenesis, epidemiology, host immune responses and other aspects of influenza research.

Thankfully, widespread fears in the mid-2000s about the world being on the brink of a global bird flu pandemic that could kill millions because of the virulence of the H5N1 bird flu virus strain never quite panned out. But health authorities and governments in most rich nations have sunk billions of dollars into research aimed to develop influenza countermeasures — diagnostic tools, therapies and vaccines.

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Kymriah Side Effects: Cytokine Release Syndrome, Toxicity, Infections

Kymriah Side Effects: Cytokine Release Syndrome, Toxicity, Infections. Last 30 August 2017, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Kymriah cell therapy to treat children and young adults (up to 25 years of age) with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

How is the treatment administered and what side effects should patients be aware of? Apparently, the treatment administration involves the collection of T-cells from the patient, modifying it, and injecting it back. More details from the FDA media release:

The patient’s T-cells are collected and sent to a manufacturing center where they are genetically modified to include a new gene that contains a specific protein (a chimeric antigen receptor or CAR) that directs the T-cells to target and kill leukemia cells that have a specific antigen (CD19) on the surface. Once the cells are modified, they are infused back into the patient to kill the cancer cells.

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