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What to do in such a case.

Medicines should ensure that patients are better off. However, some preparations also make you fat, she writes "pharmacy magazine" (B4 / 2019). These drugs, for example, reduce the metabolism, others stimulate the appetite – and thus promote weight gain.

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Fattening foods are mainly found among diabetes drugs and psychotropic drugs, cortisone preparations and beta blockers can also make themselves felt on the scales. However, patients should not stop taking the medication on their own initiative, but instead seek a discussion with their doctor. He or she may be able to lower the dose or prescribe a different drug

Sources used: dpa news agency

According to a media report, the Cologne public prosecutor’s office is investigating in connection with the drug Iberogast. It is said to be able to damage the liver.

A report from "Handelsblatt" According to the Cologne public prosecutor’s office, the pharmaceutical company Bayer is investigating. This specifically concerns the drug Iberogast. According to the report, the prosecutor has commissioned an expert opinion to clarify whether a death is related to the use of Iberogast – and whether this could have been prevented by previous warnings. The procedure is therefore directed against unknown persons.

A spokesman for the Cologne public prosecutor’s office did not want to comment on t-online.de’s request. Bayer only found out about the investigation through the press. The company is not aware of any details.

Was a death related to the use of Iberogast?

In July 2018, a death was known to be related to the over-the-counter gastrointestinal drug. According to the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (Bfarm), it was a case of liver failure with liver transplantation, which ended fatally. As a result, Bayer had to expand the Iberogast package insert. It must now be warned of very rare but serious liver damage.

The package insert now says: "Cases of liver damage (increases in liver enzyme levels, bilirubin and drug-related jaundice (drug-toxic hepatitis) and cases of liver failure) have occurred with the use of medicinal products containing celandine."

Liver damage: Bayer must supplement the package insert for Iberogast After death: Who should no longer take Iberogast

Who shouldn’t take Iberogast

People with liver disease are now advised not to take it, especially if they are using drugs with liver-damaging properties at the same time. And children under three years of age, pregnant and breastfeeding women should not take the product.

As early as 2008, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices urged Steigerwald, which was producing Iberogast at the time, to add the warnings to the package insert. The company did not comply. Bayer only took up the warnings after the death that became known in 2018.

When asked by t-online.de, a spokeswoman for Bayer explained that the company had analyzed the death in 2018. "Analysis showed that this was most likely an idiosyncratic reaction – an extremely rare, dose-independent reaction to substances that are usually safely tolerated by humans. Idiosyncratic reactions are independent of the substance and can generally not be ruled out." She adds: "Iberogast’s benefit-risk profile remains positive."

Iberogast is a herbal medicine that is used for gastrointestinal disorders with symptoms such as cramps, nausea or heartburn. It’s been on the market since 1960. It is one of Bayer’s top-selling non-prescription drugs.

Sources used: own research "Public prosecutor’s office is investigating Bayer drug Iberogast" (to be paid) Spiegel Online: "Justice determined after death in connection with Iberogast"show more sources less sources

For the second time this year, antihypertensive drugs had to be recalled after another drug was also suspected of containing carcinogenic substances in 2018.gun control argumentative essay thesis The cardiologist Thomas Meinertz explains in an interview with t-online.de what those affected have to do.

t-online.de: Mr. Meinertz, another drug has been recalled – as in January, the active ingredient Irbesartan from Heumann is affected. How should consumers react when they hear that their antihypertensive drugs may contain carcinogenic substances? Patients who have previously taken irbesartan in the contaminated form should stop taking the drug, but should be switched to another preparation by their doctor. that you know is not polluted. There are many different alternatives. It is my impression that there are some patients who are on irbesartan, but other sartans such as candesartan and valsatan, for example, are more commonly prescribed.

The German Heart Foundation, based in Frankfurt am Main, has around 100,000 members. The aim of the patient organization is to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases in Germany and to improve the quality of life of cardiac patients. More at www.herzstiftung.de

Is it easily possible to switch from one agent to another? Yes, that can be done without any problems. In principle, the sartans all have the same effect. They are interchangeable and only differ in their pharmacokinetics, which means that the length of the duration of action and the dosage are not the same.

How is it that antihypertensive drugs of all things have had to be recalled several times? Last summer there was the suspicion that not only valsartan but also other sartans could be affected by the contamination. There was suspicion that these were preparations from this group of active ingredients that had been manufactured by a certain Chinese manufacturer using a new synthesis process. I suspect that in this way Irbesatan was also contaminated.

Assuming it’s Friday and no contact with a doctor is possible – can a person concerned help themselves? If a patient does not receive any ad hoc advice, I would recommend stopping the suspicious preparation irbesartan. The psychological effect alone is problematic when someone knows that they are taking a drug that may cause cancer. Then I would take another sartan that is definitely not contaminated. You can quickly get a substitute for another sartan with the same effect.

Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Meinertz is a cardiologist and pharmacologist in Hamburg. The focus of the member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Heart Foundation includes in particular cardiac arrhythmias, coronary heart disease and cardiac valve diseases.

Can those affected also contact the pharmacy? The pharmacists are usually very well informed. They can provide information about which comparator product you can take. As a rule, they also know what is similarly effective and has the same level of blood pressure reduction as the dose that the patient has previously taken. The only problem may be the prescription, but the patient can deliver that too. If a pharmacist knows that the patient absolutely does not want to wait three or four days with the risk of a significant increase in blood pressure, then the pharmacist will give him the medication and ask him to submit the prescription later.

Recall: antihypertensive drugs may contain carcinogenic substances Valsartan: 900,000 Germans could be affected Mylan: other antihypertensive drugs recalled High blood pressure: From these values it becomes critical

Alternatively, can a patient simply leave out such a drug for two or three days and wait until he gets an appointment with the doctor? No, because then the blood pressure rises. The effect is always longer than the half-life, that is, the effect is not gone from one day to the next, but only after three to four days. It is the patient’s discretion how to cope with the psychological stress. Some patients say they would rather let their blood pressure rise than take a contaminated drug.

Sources used: German Heart Foundation

According to the EU, over 33,000 people die every year in Europe as a result of multi-resistant germs. The problem is increasing, research is lagging behind. There is a lack of powerful active ingredients against bacteria. Scientists from Massachusetts have now developed a new, highly effective antibiotic from wasp venom.

A small South American insect could save lives: a wasp. And it is precisely their most powerful weapon that could make our fight against resistant germs easier – their poison. It has long been known that the complex mixture of stings from wasps and bees contains highly effective substances against bacteria. The catch, however, is that it is also toxic to humans.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have succeeded in changing the chemical structure of wasp venom so that it is toxic to bacteria but no longer harms humans. To do this, the researchers isolated a component of the poison. It is a peptide – it is a series of amino acids. Amino acids, in turn, are the building blocks of proteins.

One component of the wasp venom kills bacteria

The scientists were able to isolate the peptide that is highly effective in fighting the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This is a strain of bacteria that causes respiratory and urinary tract infections, among other things.

Most antibiotics are powerless against this strain. In a laboratory test with mice, the peptide completely extinguished bacteria from the Pseudomonas aeruginosa group. "We turned a toxic molecule into a functional molecule to treat infections"says Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez, a postdoc at MIT. The work has appeared in the journal Nature Communications Biology.

All organisms form their own substances against bacteria

Part of the immune system of humans and other organisms (in this case wasps) is the production of peptides so that they kill bacteria. The experts assume that this happens because the peptide destroys the cell walls of bacteria, rendering them harmless.

To combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria, many scientists have tried to adapt these peptides as potential new drugs.

Mice could be cured

The treatment was successful in mice infected with the bacterium of the group Pseudomonas aeruginosa: "Within four days, this compound can completely clear the infection, and that was quite surprising"says de la Fuente-Nunez. "I think that some of the principles we learned here may apply to other similar peptides that are naturally derived", so de la Fuente-Nunez continues.

Multi-resistant germs: How to protect yourself British researchers: Taking antibiotics to an end can harm Correct use: Five mistakes that should not be made with antibiotics

Researchers from all over the world are working on new drugs to combat multi-resistant germs. Peptides that act against bacteria are produced by almost all living organisms. Some of these peptides even have an effect similar to that of broad spectrum antibiotics. They are also able to act against fungi and parasites. They are therefore considered an effective alternative to conventional antibiotics.

Sources used: The Lancet: Attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life-years caused by infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the EU and the European Economic Area in 2015: a population-level modeling analyzes https://www.aerztezeitung.de/medizin /krankheiten/infektionskrankheiten/mre/article/975405/33000-tote-jaehrlich- always-todesfall- because-antibiotika-resistenzen.html

Little Hugo has leukemia. Like thousands of other people in Germany, the boy urgently needs a stem cell donation. Find out who can help here.

"As a mother, you start functioning immediately"says Sarah Radszuweit at the beginning of the conversation. That is why the 35-year-old says little about her feelings in recent years. Instead, it strings numbers and dates together.

It starts on September 1st, 2017. That’s when the Ahrenshooper woman found out that behind the bruises that her little son had on his body, there was an insidious disease.

More at www.herzstiftung.d

More at www.herzstiftung.d

Was a death related to the use of Iberogast?

Who shouldn’t take Iberogast

One component of the wasp venom kills bacteria

All organisms form their own substances against bacteria

Mice could be cured

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