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WDDTY e-News Service - 06 March 2003

Thu, 6 Mar 2003 10:55:54 -0000

 

 

WHAT DOCTORS DON’T TELL YOU - E-NEWS BROADCAST No.25 - 06 Mar03

 

THE STATE OF THE DRUGS INDUSTRY, PRT I: Expect lighter touch regulation

 

If you worry that drugs cause enough serious adverse reactions and side effects

even after passing through a supposed draconian approval process, you’ll be even

more concerned about a subtle lobbying that could lead to a relaxation of the

licensing of new drugs.

 

Commentators are claiming that the lack of new drugs being approved each year is

reaching crisis point. Only 15 new drugs were approved by America’s drug

agency, the Food and Drug Administration, during 2002 compared with an average

during the previous five years of 31. This phenomenon is happening around the

world. “(Drugs) companies are beginning to shift research budgets towards more

aggressive marketing of existing products. These are worrying times,” warn the

editors of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, a medical journal.

 

To encourage pharmaceutical companies to make more money (as if they’ve ever

needed encouragement), the editors surmise that drug companies may be looking

for the next block-buster rather than developing a ‘niche’ drug. Take for

instance the breast cancer drug, tamoxifen. It is one of the best-selling drugs

in the world, generating billions of dollars of income every year, and yet,

according to the journal, the drug company anticipated initial annual sales of

just £100,000. This seems hard to believe, as it would have taken the drug

company 500 years to recoup the licensing costs alone, and before any marketing

costs.

 

But if these heroic tales fail to rekindle the entrepreneurial spirit of our

drugs industry, the next step could be to relax the licensing requirements.

Remember where you read it first. . .

 

(Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 2003; 2: 3).

 

 

 

 

THE STATE OF THE DRUGS INDUSTRY, PRT II: Were Bayer holding out?

 

These are dark days for Bayer, the giant German pharmaceutical. It could be the

target of thousands of class action suits—and it may have to make the pay-outs

from its own deep pockets rather than from its insurers’.

 

The crisis revolves around its cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol (cerivastatin).

It was voluntarily removed from the American market in 2001 because it was

feared the drug could cause rhabdomylosis, a muscle-wasting condition that can

be fatal.

 

But attorneys in America have got hold of correspondence between executives at

Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline from 1997. Some sections suggest that Bayer knew back

then about the potential dangers of the drug.

 

Bayer is claiming the phrases were taken out of context, and that improper

prescribing was the cause of the rhabdomylosis cases.

 

But if the attorneys win the day in court, Bayer will lose insurance cover on

judgments that could run into billions of dollars.

 

Currently there are 6,800 people, many from Germany, waiting to serve class

action suits. If Bayer does successfully counter the suits from America, other

countries are waiting in the wings to begin proceedings.

 

(Source: Time, 2003; March 10: 20).

 

 

 

 

THE STATE OF THE DRUGS INDUSTRY,PRT III: Anyone at home at the Medicines Control

Agency?

 

The Medicines Control Agency is the UK’s drugs licensing authority. It’s there

to protect the consumer against dangerous pharmaceutical drugs, and to pull any

drug that may be causing harm.

 

It also happens to be one of the most secretive organizations in Britain. Its

meetings are held in secret, and no minutes of proceedings, apart from revealing

the names of attendees, are ever made public. Any member who would dare step

out of line and reveal proceedings to the press could face two years’

imprisonment if the information compromised a drug company and its work.

 

The National Audit Office has been investigating the workings of the MCA and has

concluded that the drug licensor needs to communicate better with the public (or

at all, come to that) and to become more transparent.

 

It’s also discovered that not only is the public unaware of the MCA’s

responsibilities, but also even health professionals are unclear of its duties.

 

Worse, the introspection of the MCA is so complete that its warnings about drugs

are sometimes ignored by the manufacturer, often with impunity.

 

Perhaps this is all to do with the funding of the MCA. It is one of the few

drugs agencies in the world to be entirely funded by. . .the drugs industry.

 

It’s an arrangement that may one day have to end, says the National Audit

Office.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2003; 326: 119).

 

 

 

 

THIS BURNING SENSATION IN YOUR STROMACH: Is it the surgeon’s cigarette lighter?

 

Surgeons use a lot of implements and instruments when performing surgery—which,

all too frequently, stay in the patient afterwards.

 

Researchers at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston reckon that surgical

implements are left in the patient in one out of 1000 operations, especially

abdominal ones. The result can be serious, and, in one case of the 54 the

hospital reviewed, the patient died. Most result in sepsis or infection and, in

nearly 70% of the cases, the patient had to undergo another operation so that

the implement could be removed.

 

Sponges were, by far, the most common implement left in the patient, but clamps

and scissors were also discovered.

 

So what can hospitals do to reduce the problem? Counting the implements before

and after surgery doesn’t seem to help, because this was done in 88% of cases

where implements were found in the patient, suggesting that staff couldn’t count

properly. Instead, those patients at higher risk—including those who are

overweight and who have had abdominal surgery—should be routinely screened for

foreign bodies.

 

(Source: New England Journal of Medicine, 2003; 348: 229-35).

 

 

 

 

READERS’ RESPONSES

 

“Hepatitis B vaccine caused severe arthritis”

 

One reader, who we shall refer to as Vera, has been fighting a battle with the

health authorities as she’s convinced a course of hepatitis B vaccines caused

severe polyarthritis in her foot. Her condition became so bad that she had to

give up her work, and is now registered disabled.

 

Her GP and local MP are both backing her in her fight for compensation, but the

Department of Health is resisting her claims.

 

Arthritis is a recognized reaction to the vaccine, and yet the DoH, and the

manufacturer, are both denying this. The vaccination can also trigger the

kidney disease glomerulonephritis, which can cause pain and swelling, similar to

Vera’s symptoms.

 

Vera’s experience is a very salutary one, especially as the health authorities

are now keen to administer the jab to newborns.

 

In the meantime, Vera’s fight goes on. Are there any readers who can throw more

light on this, and perhaps give Vera any information that may help her cause?

 

 

 

Epsom salts: The quest goes on

 

The mysterious disappearance of Epsom salts from our shelves has produced many

responses from readers, some with hot leads of suppliers.

 

One nutritional therapist says that Boots can order the salts, but it doesn’t

currently keep them on its shelves. However, we’ve heard that Boots may about

to start selling 500g bags at £1.25 each.

 

Another reader has encountered a similar problem at Superdrug, although they

seem less keen to order it for you.

 

One retailer who had bounteous supplies is Claremont House Pharmacy, which has a

store in Malvern, but we don’t know if there are outlets in other parts of the

country.

 

Another possibility is Countrywide Stores (formerly known as West Midlands

Farmers Supplies). We hope they are as countrywide as their name suggests.

 

If you don’t have either store near you, try the local pet shop or veterinary.

They sell a rougher version (it’s great for treating sprained tendons and leg

wounds), but it does the trick.

 

Alternatively, the baking section of other shops may supply it in the form of

sodium bicarbonate.

 

You could go direct to a manufacturer or wholesaler. One is Thornton and Ross

in Huddersfield, who can supply 1.5kg bags for £3.22, or try Tolmarts Products

on 020 8903 5457, or Sigma Pharmaceuticals on 01923 444999.

 

 

 

AND BY THE WAY: We’re not spam

 

Your health news arrived late last week because one reader reported us to one of

the network suppliers as spam, or unsolicited advertising. This involved a fair

bit of untangling before we were finally able to transmit.

Everyone who receives E-news has requested it. If you don’t want it delivered

any longer, just , instructions for doing this are included at the

end of every broadcast—but please don’t spoil it for the rest who want to read

it. Thanks.

 

Listen to Lynne

On the radio: Hear Lynne McTaggart on Passion the new DAB Digital Radio Station

focusing on your health and your environment –

http://www.wddty.co.uk/passion_main.asp. On deman: Select and listen to any of

Lynne's archieved broadcasts on Passion -

http://www.wddty.co.uk/passion_archive.asp.

 

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