The Avandia issue has shed light on important issues in FDA regulation, including politics and regulating the practice of medicine.

In 2004, Merck withdrew its pain reliever Vioxx from the market because of new studies showing increased cardiovascular risk. Merck announced that it would not settle any of the tens of thousands of Vioxx lawsuits filed, and set aside over a billion dollars to litigate cases without reserving a penny...

The announcedsettlement of the Vioxx litigationshows the weakness of the plaintiffs' claims and the weaknesses of the current pharmaceutical product liability law.

Do not fear overhyped, scary environmentalist reports. Air quality is improving.

Regardless of the intentions, clinical drug trials driven primarily by marketing yield enormous benefits for patients and practitioners.

The rules that define legitimate behavior by specialty hospitals will play a decisive role in determining whether they become primarily instruments of high profits.

Russia has little chance of narrowing the income gap with theEuropean Unionunless it also closes the yawning health gap that separates Russians from the rest of Europe.

The most sweeping reforms since 1997 are planned this year for theFDAin order to address the concern that it is not protecting the public from drugs' risks as effectively as it might.