7 Healthcast: Top medical stories of 2005

2005 kicked off with more woes for the prescription drug industry and the FDA!

Yet another arthritis drug bit the dust - Bextra was pulled after the FDA noted the medicine was no better than a similar drug Celebrex, and was more likely to cause a rare but deadly skin reaction.

Dr. Steven Galson from the FDA says, "It's got the same benefit, no added advantage, and an extra risk."

The FDA also required heart risk warning labels for Celebrex and a whole menu of older anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen.

Doctors wrote fewer new prescriptions for impotence drugs like Viagra in 2005. In part because of reports, which are still disputed by some specialists, linked the drugs to a rare form of blindness.

New vaccines were unveiled in 2005; meningitis immunization, two new whooping cough boosters for kids and adults, and heading towards FDA approval are shots against cervical cancer and the painful condition shingles.

The stuff of science fiction became medical reality with the announcement that French surgeons had performed the world's first partial face transplant on a woman who'd been severely disfigured by a dog attack.

The impending flu season heightened concerns over the possibility of an avian pandemic. Prompting a seven billion dollar flu pandemic preparedness plan by the Bush administration and Tamiflu buying spree by the panicked public.

Despite worries over a pandemic and America's ongoing battle with an obesity epidemic, life expectancy hit a record high in 2005: 77.6 years.

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