NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Food and Drug Administration said on Monday that it was investigating reports of five deaths that may be associated with Monster Beverage Corp’s namesake energy drink, and the company’s shares fell more than 14 percent.

Monster is also being sued by the family of a 14-year-old Maryland girl with a heart condition who died after drinking two cans of its Monster energy drink in a 24-hour period.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel of outside experts recommended the Sanofi SA and Isis Pharmaceutical Inc drug, Kynamro, for treatment of a rare genetic disorder that causes unusually high cholesterol and life-threatening cardiovascular disease.

In a 9-6 vote on Thursday, the FDA advisory committee concluded that company-provided research showed the 200 milligram injection to be safe and effective enough for the one in 1 million Americans who have homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, or HoFH, and are already on a cholesterol treatment regimen that includes lipid-lowering medication.

WASHINGTON/BOSTON (Reuters) – The death toll from a meningitis outbreak linked to contaminated steroids jumped to 19 on Wednesday, while U.S. lawmakers pressed federal health regulators to explain what they knew about the pharmacy that produced the drugs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said four more deaths had been confirmed in the last 24 hours, including two in Tennessee, the state hardest hit with eight deaths since the infections were discovered in late September.

WASHINGTON/BOSTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) – The death toll from a
U.S. meningitis outbreak linked to contaminated steroids jumped
to 19 on Wednesday, while U.S. lawmakers pressed federal health
regulators to explain what they knew about the pharmacy that
produced the drugs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said four
more deaths had been confirmed in the last 24 hours, including
two in Tennessee, the state hardest hit with eight deaths since
the infections were discovered in late September.

BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of deaths from a meningitis outbreak linked to contaminated steroid medications rose to 19 on Wednesday, just hours after federal agents raided the offices of the company at the center of the scandal and took away documents.

The Centers for Disease Control said states had confirmed four more deaths in the last 24 hours as the national outbreak grew.

BOSTON/WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) – The number of deaths
from a U.S. meningitis outbreak linked to contaminated steroid
medications rose to 19 on Wednesday, just hours after federal
agents raided the offices of the company at the center of the
scandal and took away documents.

The Centers for Disease Control said states had confirmed
four more deaths in the last 24 hours as the national outbreak
grew.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama, long accused by Republicans of pursuing a socialist agenda on healthcare and other policies, tried to cast his Republican rival Mitt Romney as an extremist on Medicare and women’s health issues in their debate on Tuesday.

Obama went after Romney in response a question from the audience about what distinguished the former Massachusetts governor’s positions from those of another Republican, former President George W. Bush.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives on Friday widened its investigation into the deadly meningitis outbreak to include the role health regulators played in monitoring the pharmacy that produced steroid treatments suspected of causing the crisis.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee called on the Massachusetts pharmacy board to tell congressional staff what it knew about the New England Compounding Center before the recall of more than 17,000 vials of sterile injectable steroid treatments for back and joint pain from health facilities in 23 states. Massachusetts board officials were not immediately available for comment.

WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of
Representatives on Friday widened its investigation into the
deadly meningitis outbreak to include the role health regulators
played in monitoring the pharmacy that produced steroid
treatments suspected of causing the crisis.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee called on the
Massachusetts pharmacy board to tell congressional staff what it
knew about the New England Compounding Center before the recall
of more than 17,000 vials of sterile injectable steroid
treatments for back and joint pain from health facilities in 23
states. Massachusetts board officials were not immediately
available for comment.

WASHINGTON/BOSTON Oct 11 (Reuters) – The pharmacy at the
center of a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak possibly linked to
tainted steroid injections faced mounting federal and state
scrutiny on Thursday, including a potential criminal probe, as
the national death toll climbed to 14.

As many as 14,000 people – 1,000 more than previously
thought – received injections from suspect shipments of steroid
treatments produced by the Framingham, Massachusetts-based New
England Compounding Center (NECC).