Sybil Shainwald, a lawyer who for nearly half a century represented women whose health had been irreparably and often catastrophically harmed by poorly tested drugs and medical devices, died on April 9 at her home in Manhattan. She was 96. Her daughter Laurie Shainwald Kleeger announced the death, which was not widely reported. Ms. Shainwald…
As a maker of prosthetic eyes, Christina Leitzel was told as an apprentice to treat her craft much as an expert art forger would: create a perfect match of one of nature’s most intricate canvases. But just as there are many ways to lose an eye — to cancer or to a fall; to a…
Newer and more expensive medications are more likely to be made in the United States or Europe. Ireland, in particular, has become a hub because it is a tax haven. Many of the industry’s biggest blockbusters are manufactured at least partly in Ireland. Among them are: Keytruda, Merck’s cancer drug; Zepbound, Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug;…
More than 100,000 Americans are on waiting lists for donor organs, most needing a kidney. Only 25,000 human donor kidneys become available each year. Twelve Americans on the kidney list die every day on average. Scientists first transplanted genetically engineered pig organs into other animals and then to brain-dead human patients. In 2022, researchers received…
The Food and Drug Administration has reinstated dozens of specialized employees involved in food safety, review of medical devices and other areas who were laid off last week, according to more than a dozen workers who got called back. The total number of employees recalled was not immediately clear. But a person familiar with the…
In recent years, the Food and Drug Administration hired experts in surgical robots and pioneers in artificial intelligence. It scooped up food chemists, lab-safety monitors and diabetes specialists who helped make needle pricks and test strips relics of the past. Trying to keep up with breakneck advances in medical technology and the demands of a…
It turns out that the Isley Brothers, who sang that 1966 Motown hit “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You),” were onto something when they linked age to an aching and flagging heart. Heart disease, the nation’s leading cause of death and disability, has been diagnosed in about 6 percent of Americans ages…
It turns out that the Isley Brothers, who sang that 1966 Motown hit “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You),” were onto something when they linked age to an aching and flagging heart. Heart disease, the nation’s leading cause of death and disability, has been diagnosed in about 6 percent of Americans ages…