The Food and Drug Administration annouced its approval of a new drug derived from the saliva of a poisonous lizard called the Gila monster.

Byetta, chemically called exenatide, is the newest option for Type 2 diabetics. The drug is the first of its kind, requires injections twice a day, and presently must be taken along with older diabetes treaments

The Today Sponge contraceptive, pulled from the market a decade ago, will soon be back in U.S. stores after receiving FDA approval. Friday, the Food and Drug Administration approved U.S. sales of the sponge, which was a popular nonprescription birth control product among women when it was withdrawn from the market in 1995. Now the polyurethane sponges, which manufacturer Allendale Pharmaceuticals has sold in Canada and over the Internet since March 2003, will be available soon in the U.S. through a company Web site. Shortly after that, the product will be available at retail drug chains, followed by supermarkets and mass marketers such as Wal-Mart, Allendale said. Allendale bought rights to sell the Today Sponge several years ago from the prior manufacturer, Wyeth Co. of Madison. Wyeth, then called American Home Products. They stopped making the sponge rather than upgrade its Hammonton manufacturing plant after FDA found deficiencies there, even though the device's effectiveness and safety were never questioned. The Today Sponge, a soft, concave device, prevents pregnancy by covering the cervix and releasing spermicide. Roughly 250 million sponges were sold from 1983 to 1995. While it was less effective than several other methods and does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases, the sponge achieved a wide following among women who saw advantages from spontaneity to wide availability. In Canada, where the original Today Sponge was only on the market about 18 months, more than 400,000 sponges have been sold through retail outlets and Internet sites - without any advertising - since they were approved for sale there two years ago. An advertising campaign for the U.S. market is being developed. Sales are expected to jump from 10 million to 15 million sponges in the first 12 months. That's the current production limit of the company's factory in Norwich, N.Y., but the company has plans to double that

Canada has become the first country to endorse the cannabis-derived drug, Sativex. The drug is beneficial in treating the central nervous system and reducing multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms. German pharmaceutical giant Bayer will market the drug in Canada. Sativex will be available for sale later this spring. Initially the mouth spray version of the medicine will be available throughout Canada. UK biotech company GW Pharmaceuticals has manufactured Sativex. The company ahs also claimed that this is the world's first approval of a drug derived from cannabis. According to the statement issued by Health Canada, "The approval of Sativex reflects the urgent need for additional treatment options in the field of neuropathic pain in MS." GW Pharmaceuticals had plans to introduce the drug in UK in 2003. But the UK government said it wanted more evidence about the drug's benefits before they granted approval. GW will also try to win U.S. approval of this cannabis-derived drug this year

The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that about 130 million Americans use some form of prescription medication each month. Bringing the yearly number of prescriptions to 3.5 billion. Pharmaceutical drug companies made sales in excess of $250 billion in 2004, the majority of which came from sales of prescription medication; making The U.S. the country that buys the most amount of medication per person each year. "We are taking way too many drugs for dubious or exaggerated ailments," says Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and author of "The Truth About the Drug Companies." Adverse drug reactions claim the lives of over 125,000 Americans each year, according to Associated Press projections from landmark medical studies of the 1990s

A recent study showed that about 130 million Americans swallow, inhale, inject, infuse, spray, and rub on prescribed medicine every month. This revelation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has earned for Americans a dubious distinction of buying the most medicine per person than any other country. Another survey by IMS Health, a pharmaceutical consulting company, also revealed that the number of prescriptions has increased by two-thirds over the past decade to 3.5 billion yearly. Americans also consume more nonprescription drugs. And the possible consequence of this trend is growing number of deaths. More than 125,000 Americans die from drug reactions and overdoses each year. The statistics show pharmaceuticals are the fourth-leading national cause of death after heart disease, cancer and stroke. The pharmaceutical industry sales touched the $250 billion mark last year. The majority of the sales were done in prescriptions. With the rising drug consumption in America, the question certainly arises - do we need all these drugs? Some antibiotics and AIDS medicines do have positive effects on human being. For example, cholesterol-cutting statins are quite helpful for evading heart attack or stroke