Podofilox 0.5% solution (Condylox - Oclassen) was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of (condylomata acuminata). The drug requires a prescription, but is labeled for application by the patient. Similar topical solutions previously available for this indication are approved only for application by the physician.

Pravastatin - Bristol-Myers Squibb) and simvastatin (Zocor -Merck), two new inhibitors of cholesterol synthesis similar to lovastatin (Mevacor - Merck), have now been marketed in the USA for treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Lovastatin (Medical Letter, 29:99, 1987) is the most frequently prescribed of all cholesterol-lowering drugs in the USA. Pravastatin and simvastatin were previously reviewed in The Medical Letter when they became available in Canada (volume 33, page 18, 1991).

Nedocromil sodium (Tilade - Fisons), an anti-inflammatory drug similar to cromolyn sodium (Intal - Fisons), although chemically unrelated, is now available in the USA as a metered-dose inhaler for maintenance treatment of mild to moderate asthma.

Recombinant human deoxyribonuclease I (rhDNase; dornase alfa; Pulmozyme - Genentech), an enzyme that hydrolyzes extracellular DNA, is now available as a purified solution to decrease the viscosity of sputum in patients with cystic fibrosis. It requires a nebulizer to produce an aerosol mist for inhalation.

A 0.05% ophthalmic solution of levocabastine hydrochloride (Livostin - Iolab), a histamine H 1 -receptor antagonist, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of seasonal allergic conjunctivitis. The new drug is a cyclohexylpiperidine derivative with no structural relationship to any other antihistamine.

Mycophenolate mofetil (CellCept - Roche) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for oral use in preventing organ rejection in patients receiving allogeneic renal transplants. It is being promoted as an improvement over azathioprine (Imuran) for concurrent use with cyclosporine (Sandimmune; Neoral) and corticosteroids.

Bromfenac sodium (Duract - Wyeth-Ayerst), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is being heavily advertised as an alternative to narcotics for short-term treatment of pain.

Imiquimod (i mi kwi' mod) 5% cream (Aldara - 3M Pharmaceuticals) has been approved by the FDA for treatment of external genital and perianal warts (condyloma acuminata). The drug requires a prescription but is applied by the patient. It is the second patient-applied treatment to become available for external genital warts; the first was podofilox (Condylox - Medical Letter, 33:117, 1991).

A "Dear Colleague" letter from the UK's Committee on Safety of Medicines advised physicians, on the basis of unpublished data, not to use paroxetine (Paxil in the US; Seroxat in the UK) to treat children and adolescents with depression because of possible increased risk of suicidal behavior. This review describes the efficacy and safety of SSRIs in children.

Genetic Test for Carbamazepine-Induced Stevens-Johnson Syndrome Carbamazepine (Tegretol, Carbatrol, Equetro, and others), which is now used to treat not only epilepsy but also trigeminal neuralgia and manic episodes in patients with bipolar disorder,1 is a known cause of Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS). The incidence of carbamazepine-induced SJS in countries with mainly white populations is 1 to 6 per 10,000 new users of the drug, but Asian patients have a 10-fold higher incidence of this reaction. An association has been found between the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B*1502 allele and...