The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers not to swallow respiratory disease medications meant for inhalation after it received several reports related to it.

Respiratory drugs Spiriva and Foradil capsules are used to ease breathing in patients with asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease. But FDA said it received several reports of the capsules being swallowed

The Indian Patent Office is set to issue a landmark ruling over the petition of a local drug manufacturer to allow cheaper generic drugs especially for cancer patients for export to poor countries under the "compulsory license" rule.

The case is attracting interest of giant drug manufacturers across the globe because it could open the floodgates for drug manufacturers to make copies of patented drugs

A Nevada Court on Tuesday slashed by almost a third the $134.1 million jury award against Wyeth Pharmaceutical.

Judge Robert Perry of Washoe County, Nev., reduced the award to Arlene Rowatt, Jeraldine Scofield and Pamela Forrester to about $57.6 million, including $35 million in punitive damages

Steven Kazmierczak's Northern Illinois University shooting sparked another hard look at the linkage between stopping use of antidepressant drugs like Prozac and a rise in violent tendencies. The conclusion of medics is that the halt in the gunman's Prozac therapy had no direct link to his shooting spree.

But while the connection was not established, medical experts said the NIU incident stressed stopping antidepressant therapy without directions from doctors is risky

Because of the weak demand for camera supplies as more consumers shift to digital photography, Japanese firm Fujifilm is shifting to pharmaceuticals. The company announced it will purchase 66 percent of Toyama Chemical Company that is experimenting on an influenza medicine capable of battling bird flu.

Following the announcement of Fujifilm's diversification, its price on the Tokyo Stock Exchange went up Tuesday by 1 percent to $36.69 (3,940 yen) per share, while Toyama shares were constant at $8.14 (874 yen) per share