Fwd: [SSRI-Research] NSAID's - The Jaw-Dropping Truth

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Sat, 24 Jan 2004 14:50:21 -0500

[sSRI-Research] NSAID's - The Jaw-Dropping Truth

 

NSAID's - The Jaw-Dropping Truth

© by Shane Ellison M.Sc.

 

In an effort to sell more drugs, medical ghost writing is the practice of

paying authors to write favorable drug reports for pharmaceutical companies.

The truth be known, medical ghost writing leads to mass deception among

medical doctors and declining health among prescription drug users. Worse,

it can also lead to needless deaths.To better illustrate the negative

impacts of medical ghost writing we look to Dr. M. Michael Wolfe. As a

medical expert, editors of the Journal of the American Medical Association

(JAMA) sent him an unpublished drug review on the arthritis medication

Celebrex to evaluate. At first glance, he was impressed by what he read. It

appeared that after six months of a company-sponsored study involving more

than 8,000 patients, the drug was associated with lower rates of stomach and

intestinal ulcers than two older arthritis medicines, diclofenac and

ibuprofen. Feeling confident that the drug was safe, Dr. Wolfe and

colleagues wrote a favorable editorial about Celebrex to accompany the newly

released findings in JAMA. Consequently, millions of M.D.'s began

prescribing the now commonly used Celebrex.

 

As time passed, it was later learned that like many medical doctors of

today, Dr. Wolf was a victim of ghost writing. As fate would have it, Dr.

Wolfe later came across the complete data from the same study as a member of

the Food and Drug Administration's arthritis advisory committee. Numerous

discrepancies were seen between the initial report and the newly found raw

data. Most notably, Pharmacia, the manufacturers of Celebrex, made it appear

as if the study lasted only 6 months. In reality, the study of Celebrex

lasted a year. During the last half of the year (which was unreported)

almost all of the ulcer complications that occurred during the study were in

Celebrex users.When all of the data were considered, Dr. Wolfe stated that

most of Celebrex's apparent safety advantages disappeared. Unfortunately,

JAMA had already released the previously written findings that were derived

from the fabricated report along with Dr. Wolf's favorable editorial. In an

effort to discover why the initial report did not illustrate the entire

findings of the study, Dr. Wolfe found that the study's 16 authors included

faculty members of eight medical schools. All authors were either employees

of Pharmacia or paid consultants of the company.

 

The Blatant lies and disregard for patients health get's worse. Between 1990

and 1997 all clinical trials performed on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory

drugs (NSAIDS) such as Alleve, aspirin, Motrin, Ibuprofen, Bayer, celecoxib

--Celebrex®, diclofenac -- Voltaren®, etodolac --Lodine®, fenoprofen --

Nalfon®, indomethacin -- Indocin®, ketoprofen - Orudis®, Oruvail®, ketoralac

--Toradol®, oxaprozin -- Daypro®, nabumetone -- Relafen®, sulindac --

Clinoril®, tolmetin -- Tolectin®, rofecoxib -- Vioxx® were sponsored by the

drug manufacturer! The result was that 100% of the studies showed the

sponsored drug to have equal or superior efficacy when compared to other

drugs.

 

The fallacies behind medical ghost writing of NSAIDS are quickly exposed via

increasing body counts among users. Despite the fabricated studies showing

NSAIDS to be safe, real-life observations show that approximately 107,000

patients are hospitalized every year for non steroidal anti-inflammatory

drug-related gastrointestinal complications. Moreover, at least 16,500

NSAID-related deaths occur each year among arthritis patients. This figure,

as reported by Dr. Gurkirpal Singh, is comparable to the number of deaths

from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome [AIDS] and shows that NSAIDS

contribute to as many deaths as multiple myeloma, asthma, and cervical

cancer combined!

 

Although outrageously high, the aforementioned statistics do not account for

over-the-counter use of NSAIDS. Thus, we can be confident that there are

considerably more deaths caused by the use of NSAIDS that go unreported. And

because few medical doctors are unaware of these statistics, NSAIDS can

rightfully be considered a silent killer, especially when " experts " are paid

to write favorable reviews and drug manufacturers carry out their own

clinical studies.Not being aware of this silent killer, millions of

American's are consuming NSAIDS on a daily basis on the false hypothesis

that they will successfully enhance their longevity. This will go down in

the history books as one of America's deadliest health myths. How many

people do you know who take an aspirin a day in an attempt to lower their

risk of heart disease? What about Celebrex?

 

Ghost writing is a common, yet rarely mentioned practice among the drug

industry. Very few professionals and patients are able to get the real-scoop

on the drug they are either prescribing or consuming. This further

illustrates the importance of seeking information about natural alternatives

which are not only effective but have killed less people than bee stings.

 

References

 

1. Okie, Susan. Washington Post, August 5, 2001; Page A11

[Maggie Erotokritou] 2. Ivan Oransky and Jeanne Lenzer. Ties to drug

manufacturers deform medical reviews. USA Today. McLean, Va.:Aug1, 2002. pg

A. 11

 

3. Singh Gurkirpal, MD, " Recent Considerations in Nonsteroidal

Anti-Inflammatory Drug Gastropathy " , The American Journal of Medicine, July

27, 1998, p. 31S

 

4. Verrico MM, Weber RJ, McKaveney TP, Ansani NT, Towers AL. Adverse Drug

Events Involving COX-2 Inhibitors. Ann Pharmacother. 2003 Sep;37(9):1203-13.

Author Profile: Shane Ellison holds a Master's degree in organic chemistry

and has first-hand industry experience with drug research, design and

synthesis. His web sites are www.health-fx.net <http://www.health-fx.net>

and www.healthmyths.net <http://www.healthmyths.net> .