How Congress Can Help Ted Kennedy

Johnson & Johnson division under scrutiny for manufacturing practices

(NEWSER) - After multiple drug recalls and an FDA safety probe, federal authorities are taking control of three Tylenol plants, CNNMoney reports. The plants, run by Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil division, are in trouble for dodging federal manufacturing rules; now, the company has agreed to let the FDA supervise the three—two in Pennsylvania and one in Puerto Rico—a decision that effectively wards off a threatened FDA lawsuit. The agreement, a so-called "consent decree," is subject to a Pennsylvania judge’s approval. More»

Drugs declared 'safe' on basis of unregulated trials abroad

(NEWSER) - Prescription drugs that are considered safe kill an estimated 200,000 Americans a year, and investigative reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele have exposed a massive loophole that could help explain why. Some 6,485 clinical trials were conducted abroad in 2008—more than 20 times as many as in 1990—and the FDA has been declaring drugs safe based on foreign trials that are almost completely free from regulation or oversight, a detailed investigation published in Vanity Fair finds. More»

Enzyme integrase made visible for first time

(NEWSER) - After 40,000 failed trials and "painstakingly slow progress," scientists have solved a puzzle that stumped AIDS researchers for more than 20 years—and their findings could help develop more effective HIV drugs. The researchers at Harvard and Imperial College London grew a crystal that for the first time made visible the structure of integrase, the enzyme targeted by many newer HIV drugs, Reuters reports. More»

Senator wrote letter delivered by Obama

(NEWSER) - In the months before he died, Ted Kennedy penned a letter to Pope Benedict beseeching the pontiff's prayers—and enlisted no less a messenger than the leader of the free world to deliver it, reports CNN. “I am writing with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines,” Kennedy wrote in the letter Barack Obama hand-delivered in July. “I know that I have been an imperfect human being, but with the help of my faith I have tried to right my path.” More»

(NEWSER) - Thousands of constituents and admirers turned out this afternoon to honor Ted Kennedy as a motorcade bearing the senator's body from his Cape Cod home to his brother's presidential library wound through the streets of Boston. Some wept, some applauded as both locals and out-of-towners flooded to say goodbye. "We’re his family,” one Bostonian told the Globe. “We loved him so much, and we’ll miss him so much." More»