LAW UPDATE: BAD DRUGS, "OLD MAN?" AND "BOW WOW" (the Rapper, not the Dog)

BAD DRUGS

Consistent with the mushrooming increase of pharmaceutical (drug) advertising in the media, it is not surprising that so-called "adverse drug events" are on the rise.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices, an independent watch dog group is reporting a 23.8% increase in the number of reports of serious adverse (negative) events associated with the use of various medications during the first quarter of 2012 as compared to the same time period in 2011. The 57,393 adverse drug events represented a 30% increase over the number reported in the first quarter of 2011 (40,176).

The Institutes's Report, known as "Quarter Watch", relies primarily on data received from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Report covering the first quarter of 2012 said that the numbers are part of a "sustained and substantial growth" in adverse event reports associated with new and existing drugs.

The Report focused on four drugs - Takeda's Actos for diabetes, Eli Lilly's Cymbalta for depression, Novartis' Tekturna for high blood pressure, and Janssen's Xarelto, an anti-coagulant.

"No Room For Old Men?"

A 70-year-old Maryland man will receive $235,000 for his wrongful termination from his jobs as town administrator and finance director for Elkton, Maryland. The man filed his complaint with the Baltimore office of the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleging age discrimination. The case was settled through the EEOC.

"Bow Wow (the rapper, not the dog) is not dead": Client Update

Star rapper Bow Wow was rumored in a fake and false "CNN website" to be dead.

In fact, the young, successful rapper and actor named Shad Gregory Moss, born in Columbus, Ohio, is doing very well with his hip hop career.

Being in the music and acting business can be enormously stressful, and especially for an artist in the hip hop genre who has been involved since he was just a 13-year-old child and is now only 25 years of age.

[Lawyers USA, dailyalert_USA@lawyersweekly.com/ "Watchdog Group: Adverse Drug Events Increase"; www.charged.fm/blog/ "Bow Wow's Fake Death"; thedailyrecord.com/Maryland; "Bow Wow", YouTube, 04-13-2009 (Retrieved 03-28-2012)]