News article

From Health Day:

Multaq Sanctioned for Heart Rhythm Disorders
Atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter

THURSDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- Multaq (dronedarone) tablets have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to promote a normal heart rhythm in people with atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. These conditions cause the heart to beat too quickly and can prevent it from pumping blood correctly.

The drug's label, however, will contain a "black box" warning that the medication could cause deadly reactions in people with recent severe heart failure, the agency said Thursday in a news release.

In clinical testing involving more than 4,000 people, Multaq lowered the rates of cardiac hospitalization or death from any cause by 24 percent, compared to an inactive placebo, the FDA said. The most common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and weakness.

Multaq is produced by French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis.

More information

The FDA has more about this approval.

More fun to come

Montgomery Village celebrated Independence Day on Friday, with parade and concert. The parade was interesting: the trailer I was sitting on got a flat tire - the one nearest me - almost as soon as we started off. The band sits on two flatbed trailers pulled by pickup trucks; we are a bit too old, on average, to *march* although there are a couple of slightly insane band members who do walk alongside the trailers. I couldn't change seats to get away from the increasingly bumpy flat tire, because a baritone saxophone really doesn't fit many other places on a trailer besides that seat on the right, just behind the rear axle. One of those facts of musical life. Bassoon has a similar problem; bassoon players rarely play in parades. The bumpiness was getting bad enough that even people on the rest of the trailer were noticing it, by the time we turned the corner into the parking lot. And then the truck driver miscalculated and pulled that corner of the trailer right over a curb. That did it! Tire flopped loose from rim entirely, and we traveled a few more feet - enough to get us the rest of the way into the lot - on the metal rim. The rest of the festivities were delayed a few minutes while management figured out how to tow the trailer off for repairs.

Got to say it was beautiful weather! 66º F, light breeze - we certainly needed our clothespins for the music. And there was a good audience for a weekday; apparently the economy, and budget cuts such that lots of people got mandatory furlough days to have a long weekend, contributed to many people being available to watch a parade on a Friday morning. The concert went well, too, with the weather holding up, the audience hanging around, and only a couple of stands full of music being blown over by the wind. The bass trombone does not like playing the music from "Hairspray" but I love it, and so does the audience. We did "Armed Forces Medley" instead of "Armed Forces Salute." The usual Carmen Dragon "America the Beautiful." And the always fun "Victory at Sea." As well as Sousa marches, and Fillmore, and Kenneth Alford, and RB Hall.

Sunday we'll be playing at Fort Washington National Park, in Ft. Washington, MD, southeast of Washington DC. Check out the Montgomery Village Community Band's website, http://www.montgomeryvillagecommunityband.org, or the National Park Service's website, http://www.nps.gov/fowa/planyourvisit/events.htm, for details.