Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Accutane Registry Established

From various sites including the FDA's own:

A national registry began accepting names of Americans who take the anti-acne drug Accutane. This is done as part of a federal effort to limit use of the birth-defect-causing drug by pregnant women.

The Food and Drug Administration has tried to limit the exposure of fetuses to the drug, prescribed to about 100,000 people each month. If a woman uses Accutane during pregnancy or becomes pregnant shortly after taking the drug the baby runs a risk of brain and heart defects or mental defects.

The registry is known as iPledge and can be found at https://www.ipledgeprogram.com/