US Food and Drug Administration Black Box Warnings

Podiatric Physicians have an ethical obligation to prescribe responsibly and cautiously to diminish and minimize the growth of drug adverse effects. Clinicians who prescribe, dispense, and administer medications must be vigilant in continually reviewing new Black Box Warnings for medications they use for their patients. The safe and appropriate selection of medications and prescribing strategies are presented. First, the concept and process for these FDA black box warnings are introduced. Then, to enrich the podiatric physician's body of knowledge, several FDA boxed warnings from 27 selected drug products that may be prescribed by podiatric physicians are presented graphically as a table. Finally, strategies for safe prescribing of these drugs with boxed warnings are presented.