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TechnoratiAccused of Hiding Drug Dangers Again, Big Pharma Starts 2008 Defending Itself
If Hillary and Obama think the press is picking on them, they should look at Big Pharma.
The ink isn't even dry on the massive Vioxx settlement and already Big Pharma's been accused of burying clinical data, spinning journal articles and selling drugs that cause the conditions they're supposed to fix. Sound familiar?
Merck and Schering-Plough, it turns out, were sitting on the ENHANCE clinical trial results of cholesterol lowering drug, Vytorin for a reason. Rather than reducing the growth of fatty plaque in the arteries, Vytorin, a combination of Zetia and Zocor, almost doubled the growth in the trials.
Not only did it take a Congressional committee to pry the truth out of the Big Pharma giants, their response to the clinical belly flop was that they "would be changing the ENHANCE study's endpoint"--the actual result the study was meant to measure. In other words, the sun was in their eyes.
Nor was it just TV that Big Pharma is accused of using in service to half truths like "Vytorin treats cholesterol from two sources: food and family."
Ninety-four percent of positive studies about antidepressants found their way into medical journals versus 14 percent of negative ones says an article in the January 17, 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine called Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy.
Publishing only pro drug articles deprives researchers of accurate data, wastes resources, squanders the contributions of investigators and patients and misleads doctors says lead author Erick Turner, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University.
New bone medications also took a hit in a medical literature analysis in 2008.
After screening 1,825 published papers from 1966 to 2007, researchers found no evidence that bisphosphonates such as Fosamax or Actonel are superior to older bone drugs in Systematic Review: Comparative Effectiveness of Treatments to Prevent Fractures in Men and Women with Low Bone Density or Osteoporosis in the February 8 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. They did find the newer drugs can have serious side effects such as strokes, blood clots in the lungs or bleeding in the uterus (a January 15, 2008 Journal of Rheumatology paper finds oral bisphosphonate drugs nearly triple the risk of developing bone necrosis) and that "data are insufficient to determine the relative efficacy or safety" of all the studied drugs.
Some will notice the antidepressant article in the New England Journal of Medicine and bone drug article in the Annals of Internal Medicine are unusually short. They lack the obligatory six inches of drug company financial support to the researchers which most journal articles show at the end. (In a pro Cox-2 inhibitor article in the December 22, 2007 issue of Lancet author Vibeke Strand lists 49 drug companies she's received money from. Who even knew there were 49 drug companies?)
Thanks to the Vioxx, HRT and Avandia scandals, the public is no longer shocked to learn that Big Pharma hides side effects like heart attacks or sells drugs that actually cause the conditions they are supposed to alleviate like antidepressants and suicide or bisphosphonates and fractures.
But disease mongering still seems a violation of First Do No Harm.
In January thousands of Northwestern students found a "Kick Crohn's Back" brochure in their daily newspaper replete with checklist--Does abnormal pain or other Crohn's symptoms force you to miss school, work or events with friends or family?-- and photo of glowing young couple "going out to dinner and actually eating dinner."
What percentage of 19-years-olds gets Crohn's disease to justify use of Humira whose side effects include lethal infections and cancer? Or is the insert meant for the set of all 19-year-olds with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis, the other diseases Humira treats?
And then there's fibromyalgia, another amorphous, no cause/no cure/no clear definition condition that lends itself to lucrative direct-to-consumer self-diagnosis .
Pfizer spent $40 million advertising Lyrica, approved for fibromyalgia in June, in 2007 buttressed by free PSAs from the National Fibromyalgia Association (NFA) which directed people to a web site with the Pfizer logo and phone number.
This "unbranded," "condition-awareness" marketing as it's called in the industry, sponsored by Pfizer but funneled through the NFA helped Lyrica post 118,871 new and 203,737 total prescriptions in December noted Bear Stearns analyst John Boris saying he was impressed with the data points' upward trajectory.
But it also moved the New York Times to ask on its front page in January "Drug Approved. Is Disease Real?"
And even if the disease is real and not another self fulfilling prophesy, Big Pharma will no doubt find itself back in court with suits over fibro drugs' Zyprexa-like weight gain side effects which start early in therapy with gains of as much as seven percent that do not taper off.
Yes, thanks to a bad start in 2008 Pharma has a lot of "negatives" to overcome. But unlike the presidential candidates, its troubles won't end in eleven months. They may even get worse.
Martha Rosenberg is a cartoonist for the Evanston Roundtable in Evanston, Illinois.
13 Comments so far
Show AllI wouldn't be surprised if cannibus and hemp become genetically modified to produce antidepressants or who knows what. Drugs or medications are a commodity and subject to some of the worst business practices. The day has passed that you can get a prescription with reliable results. I would include artifical food ingredients also.
Thanks for posting this story, I'm glad to read this. I think there are important questions regarding the blind faith we have in pharmaceuticals.
Everyone gets sick, and as far as my experience has been, it is a disturbing and confusing experience. I developed acute asthma after moving to a town situated in between two coal reactors and a trash incinerator.
I went through this bizarre allergic phase where my whole body was in upheaval. I had the most surreal experiences with drugs, after being prescribed my first asthma med I had a massive asthma attack that lasted several hours, which was triggered by the medication itself.
After that I read all the fine print, you know those accordion folded inserts with the endless tiny print? I learned that a possible side effect of my asthma medicine is a fatal asthma attack...!
Somehow, sadly, in this day and age that does not surprise me.
"It is because the masters have determined there are too many people."
I'm inclined to agree -- only with this proviso/question: What is it our Masters eat/breathe/drink? [And where do I get that stuff?]
Never trust anyone who has a degree which says "practicing". More people die in hospitals, they are full of sick people. Take care of yourself and use your head, quit depending on someone that doesn't have your best interests in mind.
Educate yourself people. Don't take the word of someone in a white coat just because they have a sheepskin on the wall.
Maybe we were not meant to live so long.
Or the Drug Lords either.
Maybe we were not meant to live so long.
Of course Big Pharma will be more terrorizing than even Osama bin Laden. They've been having the upper hand ever since the ban on Cannabis more than 70 years ago ! A real progressive would fight to legalize hemp, not cry like a baby about Big Pharma's bullying ways ! The same holds with Big Tobacco ! As long as the Left keeps buying into the phoney "drug war" and keeps attacking us as "pot smokers", Big Pharma/Tobacco/Oil/etc... will continue to win ! DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !
Big Phrma in collusion with the FDA whom they control is making a fortune promising to keep us safe and take away our pain. I say legalize all drugs.
I have no doubt we will be safer and have more effective pain relief using our own judgment (anybody with an ounce of brains will consult a professional).
Drug companies are no better than big tobacco. Recreational drugs should be regulated and taxed, cutting our prison population in half.
When ever my doctor tries to prescribe drugs I ask him about the studies, who paid for them, what were the parameters. Of course he doesn't know. So I ask what that drug replaced and how long that drug had been on the market...and what would happen if I didn't take the drug. I find my doctor now looks at these questions. I also got my gyn a while back to look at nurtitional solutions in place of HRT.
Big Pharma has nothing to worry about, nor does any other multi-national industry cartel (Big Oil, Banks and Investment Companies, Insurance, Agri-business, etc). They are your government. They own the politicians, they own the regulators (FDA who?), they own you, and they even own the courts.
I laugh when I see people get worked up over lead in Chinese toys yet let their kids take medicines for depression, vaccines for diseases that may not exist or are not very harmful (eg. HPV), eat GMO foods, drink fluoridated water, asparatame laced sodas and milk containing antibiotics given to cows to proetect them from infections caused by genetically modified growth hormones.
You are being poisoned, and it is not an accident of greed and corruption.
It is because the masters have determined there are too many people.
The safety testing being done is rigged not to find any safety issues. Those doctors in white coats that reassure you are just as controlled. The web of control is exercised over the regulatory bodies and universities and other research institutes is immense. Play along, or lose your job due to your company or university will lose government and industrial funding for research that is meant to confirm product safety and fixed in advance (or if it is not fixable it gets hidden). Be a hero, blow the whistle, and MSM covers it up or distorts it and then moves on when the smoke clears, and you end up poor for nothing.
The Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot, saying that the American Constitution guarantees you the right to smoke pot:
http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2008/01/012008_1.html
I'm 62 and have been into alternative medicine and natural foods for more than 30 years. It has been my experience that there is ALWAYS an alternative for a medical problem, i.e. an ALTERNATIVE to a DRUG - you just have to find it and sometimes this takes work and time.
Drugs - like surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and everything else offered by PHARMA - are INVASIVE. They should be the LAST thing that anyone uses.
If you have a health problem - and who doesn't? - WHY would you turn to PHARMA first? It makes no sense. PHARMA has only been around for a relatively short time, while herbs, homeopathic remedies, accupuncture, etc. etc. have been around a hell of a lot longer, are non-invasive, and have withstood the test of time.
This is NOT to say that every alternative works for every person. It doesn't. The trick is that you have to have patience and find what works for YOU. And since each of us is an individual, what works for you may be different from what works for him or her or anyone else.
PATIENCE is the key here. Sure, when you get sick you want relief FAST. But you may pay the price for this in the long run.
I found a wonderful book in the book store called ACUPRESSURE'S POTENT POINTS.
http://www.amazon.com/Acupressures-Potent-Points-Self-Care-Ailments/dp/0553349708
This covers acupressure (sometimes called acupuncture without needles) for many common ailments. Over the years, I have used it dozens and dozens of times to help me find relief from common problems. I learned how to deal with my problems myself. And I have found it to be very rewarding to take control over my own body instead of leaving it to chance, the physician, and WORST OF ALL - PHARMA.
I don't know if it's true, but I once heard a story that long ago in China a person paid the doctor only as long as that person remained healthy. The minute that person became ill, he stopped paying the doctor. So, the physician had an ECONOMIC INCENTIVE to see that his patient stayed health.
Today, in the US, our priorities are totally screwed up and turned upside down. It is NOT in the best interest of physicians, hospitals, or, LEAST OF ALL, Big Pharma for people to remain healthy. After all, none of these entities makes any money if you're healthy. Not in this USA.