4 arthritis drugs get tougher warnings

Washington

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered stronger warnings Thursday on four medications widely used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other serious illnesses, saying they can raise the risk of possibly fatal fungal infections.

The caution, the FDA's strictest, must be highlighted in a black box in prescribing information.

The drugs — Enbrel, Remicade, Humira and Cimzia — work by suppressing the immune system. For patients with rheumatoid arthritis, the treatment provides relief, but it's "a double-edged sword," said the FDA's Dr. Jeffrey Siegel.

Siegel said the FDA became concerned after discovering doctors seemed to be overlooking a fungal infection called histoplasmosis. Of 240 cases reported to the FDA in which patients taking one of the four drugs developed the infection, 45 died, nearly 20 percent.

Enbrel, Humira and Remicade each have sales of more than $1 billion annually; Cimzia is less widely used.

Washington

EPA tightens limits on mower emissions

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday tightened emissions standards for new gas-powered lawn mowers, weed trimmers and boat engines, reducing the amount of smog-causing pollution these motors will be allowed to emit.

In adopting rules that will require small gas engines to have catalytic converters such as those that have been installed in cars since 1975, the Bush administration overruled the objections of engine manufacturers and their GOP allies in Congress. The regulations will take effect in 2010 and 2011.

Los Angeles

Reward offered for clues to serial killer

Authorities hope a new $500,000 reward will help them catch a serial killer who has killed at least 10 women and a man in a two-part string of violence spanning more than 20 years.

All the victims were black and were found in or near South Los Angeles. Police think some of the women were prostitutes.

Seven women and a man were killed with the same handgun over three years starting in August 1985. The women had been sexually assaulted.

A 13-year hiatus followed a death in 1988, a gap that ended in March 2002, when Princess Berthomieux, 14, was found beaten and strangled in Inglewood. DNA samples linked her to the suspect in the earlier slayings. Another killing came in 2003; the most recent homicide was in January 2007.

Also

Air-conditioning repairman Michael Thomas Gargiulo, 32, of Santa Monica, Calif., pleaded not guilty Thursday to the stabbing deaths of two women, including a former girlfriend of actor Ashton Kutcher.

Seattle Times news services