The drug, called Kuvan, is intended to help people who have phenylketonuria, or PKU, which requires those who have it to adhere to a strict low-protein diet.
A national chain of cosmetic medical clinics that popularized antifat injections denounced by medical groups shut its doors in the wake of dozens of complaints from consumers asking for their money back.
A federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld an 2002 injunction barring three California marijuana clubs from giving the drug to medical patients with a prescription. The ruling by judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sided with the Justice Department, which first sued the dispensaries in 1998 to stop sales of medical marijuana to patients with a doctor?s approval, as allowed under a California law approved by voters in 1996. The law has been at the heart of a series of legal battles over state and federal drug laws, which categorize marijuana as illegal. The ruling was likely the last legal recourse for the clubs. In 2001, the United States Supreme Court heard the case and ruled against the California cooperatives.
Thousands of patients with failing hearts must decide whether to heed a warning from Medtronic and replace a defibrillator in their chest that has a potentially faulty wire.
A developing shortage of vaccine against childhood meningitis is expected to inconvenience some pediatricians and parents, but should not become a public health threat, officials said.
