Odactra - Under the Tongue Immunotherapy for Dust Mite Allergy

Website for Odactra The FDA formally approved Odactra , the fourth new sublingual allergy tablet to be sold in the United States that works the same way  allergy shots  do... but instead is dissolved  under the tongue  at home instead of a shot in the arm in a medical office. Odactra is specifically used in the treatment of dust mite allergy. The other sublingual immunotherapy tablets currently available include: • Ragwitek used to treat ragweed. •  Oralair  and  Grastek  are two o…

5/31/2018 0

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Germs Are Winning the Antibiotics Arms Race

When human scientists develop a new antibiotic to kill a germ... how long do you think it takes before germs develop a resistance to the antibiotic? 10 years? 20 years? If only that was true... In reality, it's only a few years now (typically less than three years). Check out this table made by the CDC that shows when an antibiotic was created by humans on one side and when germs develop a resistance on the other side. Some interesting things to note from the table: - Penici…

1/05/2016 0

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Types of Ear Tubes

Ear tubes are placed whenever adequate ventilation of the middle ear is compromised and unresponsive to medications. Such situations include chronic ear infections , eustachian tube dysfunction , hearing loss due to fluid, etc. Once the decision is made to place an ear tube, the surgeon has many choices of ear tubes that could be placed. There are three main "classes" of ear tubes: grommet tubes (A), intermediate tubes (B), and T-tubes (C). When selecting what class of tube to pl…

6/06/2015 0

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The Longer Hoarseness Lasts, the More Expensive it Becomes to Treat

It is generally accepted that if a voice is hoarse for over 2 weeks, an ENT evaluation is recommended.  The main concern is whether there is something more serious going on that would require specialist treatment whether it be unusual medications or even surgery. Researchers have also found out that patients who see an ENT after 3 weeks of hoarseness also pay substantially more money than if they had seen an ENT earlier. The longer patients wait, the more expensive it becomes to correct t…

4/22/2015 0

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Bleeding After Tonsillectomy (Pictures)

Bleeding after Tonsillectomy (circa 2010) 5 years old patient Bleeding after tonsillectomy is a very rare, but potentially life-threatening event. The often quoted probability of bleeding after this surgery is 1 in 1000 . Many surgeons have statistics much better than this. I like to consider myself in this "better" group. But... no matter how good you are, if enough tonsillectomies are performed, statistically, a significant bleed after tonsillectomy will occur at some point no…

3/06/2015 4

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FDA Approves Ragwitek... Ragweed Allergy Tablet by Mouth (Instead of Allergy Shots)

The FDA formally approved Ragwitek, the third new sublingual allergy tablet to be sold in the United States this year that works the same way  allergy shots  do... but instead is dissolved  under the tongue  at home instead of a shot in the arm in a medical office. Ragwitek is the first sublingual allergy tablet to treat ragweed. Although Oralair and Grastek are two other sublingual tablets that have already been approved by the FDA, they treat grass allergies rather than ragweed. Ragwi…

4/18/2014 0

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FDA Approves Grastek... Grass Allergy Tablet by Mouth (Instead of Allergy Shots)

Today, the FDA formally approved Grastek, the second new sublingual allergy tablet to be sold in the United States that works the same way  allergy shots  do... but instead is dissolved  under the tongue  at home instead of a shot in the arm in a medical office. Although this tablet has been available in Europe for some time, only now has sale/distribution in the United States been allowed under prescription. Just 2 weeks ago, FDA approved Oralair which also treats grass allergies. Grast…

4/16/2014 0

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FDA Approves Oralair... Grass Allergy Tablet by Mouth (Instead of Allergy Shots)

Today, the FDA formally approved Oralair, the first new sublingual allergy tablet to be sold in the United States that works the same way  allergy shots  do... but instead is dissolved under the tongue at home instead of a shot in the arm in a medical office. Although this tablet has been available in Europe for some time, only now has sale/distribution in the United States been allowed under prescription. Oralair is made by a French pharmaceutical company  Stallergenes  ( Greer is US dis…

4/02/2014 0

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New Ragweed Under the Tongue Pill Instead of Allergy Shots Recommended by FDA Panel

Yesterday, the FDA Allergenic Products Advisory Committee supported approval for a new sublingual allergy tablets (Ragwitek) that work the same way  allergy shots  do... but instead is dissolved under the tongue at home instead of a shot in the arm in a medical office. Given this is only a panel recommendation, final "official" FDA approval may not occur for another year or so for sale/distribution under prescription in the United States. Ragwitek is made by  ALK-Abello  and  Me…

1/29/2014 0

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Should Risk of Death Always be Part of the Surgical Consent?

Ever since reports of alleged medical negligence came up in the case of 13 years old Jahi McMath who suffered cardiac arrest and subsequent brain death after a "routine" tonsillectomy that occurred Dec 9, 2013, the question has come up whether risk of death should become part of every single surgical procedure's informed consent no matter how rare that risk might be. It also brings up the question whether patients would want to hear every single possible conceivable risk that m…

1/09/2014 0

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Two New Sublingual Allergy Tablets Approved by FDA Advisory Committee

This week, the FDA Allergenic Products Advisory Committee unanimously supported approval for two new sublingual allergy tablets (Oralair and Grastek) that work the same way allergy shots do... but instead is dissolved under the tongue at home instead of a shot in the arm in a medical office. Although both tablets have been available in Europe for some time, final "official" FDA approval may not occur until end of 2014 (or later) for sale/distribution under prescription in the Unite…

12/13/2013 0

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Vaccine to Prevent Throat Cancer

Spread through oral sex, it is well established that human papilloma virus (HPV) types 16 and 18 cause the vast majority of throat cancer especially in men... even more than smoking and drinking alcohol. What was not known, but suspected, was whether in BOTH men and women the HPV vaccine Cervarix (made by GSK) or Gardasil (made by Merck) would help prevent throat cancer as effectively as cervical cancer for which it is FDA approved for. At least for the vaccine Cervarix, a randomized, co…

7/19/2013 1

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New Video on Tongue Tie Release Procedure

Tongue tie is a common problem whereby a flap of tissue anchors the tongue tip to the bottom of the mouth. With tongue tie , it is impossible for a patient to stick the tongue straight out (licking an ice cream is impossible) and may potentially lead to problems with feeding in a newborn baby, speech articulation in a young school-age child, and french kissing in teenagers and older. Due to the frequency at which tongue tie release is performed and the questions parents often have about h…

7/01/2013 0

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