Statins for arthritis? Now I'm REALLY mad.

[Guest guest]

[As a person with inflammatory arthritis, if I had high blood pressure I'd

have to stop reading Google Health News because of articles reporting this

type of research. I said some nasty words aloud when I saw today's

headline. It's clear that Big Pharma is looking to use statins as treatment

for all inflammatory diseases. What's next? Statins for allergies? Statins

for asthma? Don't laugh, it's entirely possible. The news report below is

followed by a warning from Dr. Malcolm Kendrick about the dangers of making

statins available without a prescription. -- David]

 

 

Cholesterol Drug May Help Rheumatoid Arthritis

 

List of Potential Benefits Continues to Grow for Lipitor, Other Statins

webmd.com/content/article/89/100140.htm?z=1728_00000_1000_nb_03

 

By Daniel DeNoon

WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD

on Thursday, June 17, 2004

 

June 17, 2004 -- The cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor offers modest but

significant benefits to people with rheumatoid arthritis, a small study

suggests.

 

A lot more study is needed. But the new finding broadens the list of

benefits from an amazing class of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as

statins. Examples of other statins include Crestor, Pravachol, and Zocor.

 

It's becoming increasingly clear that statins do more than lower

cholesterol. One of these effects is on the immune system. Statins alter

the complex chain of events that make tissues red, swollen, and painful --

a reaction known as inflammation. Inflammation lies at the heart of

rheumatoid arthritis.

 

Might statins help people with arthritis? David W. McCarey, MD, and

colleagues at the University of Glasgow decided to find out. They added

either Lipitor or a placebo to the treatment regimens of 116 rheumatoid

arthritis patients.

 

After six months, the patients who took Lipitor did a bit better than the

others. They had lower scores on a medical index of rheumatoid arthritis

activity. And they had fewer swollen joints, although they did not report

significantly better health. In addition, the Lipitor group had lower

levels of two markers of inflammation -- sed rate and C-reactive protein.

The findings appear in the June 19 issue of The Lancet.

 

" Although the magnitude of change is modest, the significant reduction [in

disease activity] provides proof of concept that pathways targeted by

statins offer therapeutic opportunity in inflammatory disease, " McCarey and

colleagues write.

 

Tailor-Made Statins

 

The researchers note that Lipitor added to the effect of other

disease-modifying drugs the patients were taking. They suggest that longer

treatment -- or, even better, new statin-like drugs specifically designed

for rheumatoid arthritis patients -- might be even more helpful.

 

In an editorial accompanying the study, Karolinska Institute researchers

Lars Klareskog, MD, PhD, and Anders Hamsten, MD, PhD, welcome the findings.

 

They note that patients with rheumatoid arthritis are at high risk of heart

disease. Statins, they suggest, may kill two birds with one stone. They may

lower this high risk of heart disease via their cholesterol-lowering

action. And they may help treat arthritis itself. It's unclear exactly why

rheumatoid arthritis patients are at high risk of heart disease, though

it's felt to be related to the higher levels of inflammation in the body.

 

However, they note that the long-term effects of statins on the immune

system are simply not known. Since rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune

disease -- where the immune system attacks normal tissues as if they're

foreign to the body -- it's not clear whether statins will help or hurt in

the long run. As do McCarey and colleagues, they stress the need for statin

makers to fund larger, longer studies in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

 

SOURCES: McCarey, D.W. The Lancet, June 19, 2004; vol 363: pp 2015-2021.

Klareskog, L. and Hamsten, A. The Lancet, June 19, 2004; vol 363: pp

2011-2012.

 

===========================

[for some balance]

 

We Are Sleep-Walking Into What Could Become A Major Medical Disaster

Because Statin Drugs Will Soon Be Sold Over-The-Counter

http://www.redflagsweekly.com/kendrick/2004_june17.html

 

By RFD Columnist Dr. Malcolm Kendrick

(email - malcolm)

 

1. Holoprosencephaly (defective septum separating lateral cerebral

ventricles, with cerebral dysfunction), atrial septal defect, aortic

hypoplasia, death at one month of age.

 

2. Aqueductal stenosis with hydrocephalus, concurrent limb deficiency

 

3. Cerivothoracic-to-lumbar neural-tube defect, myelocele, duplication of

spinal cord, cerbellar hernation with hydrocephalus; apparent agenesis of

palate

 

4. Spina bifida, right-arm abnormality

 

5. Left leg: femur 16% shorter than right side; foot: aplasia of

metatarsals and phalanges 3,4 and 5; additional VACTERL (vertebral, anal,

cardiac, tracheal, esophageal, renal and limb defects): left renal

dysplasia, reversed laterality of aorta, disorganized lumbosacral vertebra,

single umbilical artery; additional findings: clitoral hypertrophy, vaginal

and uterine agenesis.

 

It always amazes me that some things seem to strike terror into the hearts

of mankind whilst other, much more dangerous things, are accepted with a

shrug of the shoulders. As my son has taken to saying ‘Yeh, whatever.’

 

Around the world, for example, car crashes wipe out thousands of people

each and every day, yet few people worry about getting into a car. On the

other hand, one plane comes down; killing a couple of hundred, and it hits

the front page of the newspapers around the world. And we are all nervous

about getting into planes – especially the landing bit.

 

The things that frighten us, it seems, bear absolutely no relationship to

the level of risk that they represent.

 

Looking at a medical example of irrational fear, the world still reels in

terror at the word “thalidomide.” However, it turns out that this drug

provides huge benefits in the treatment of myeloma – who would ever have

thought? Yet, it is almost impossible to prescribe thalidomide to many who

need it, due to extremely strict controls on its use. Which is completely

mad, because it only has one major side effect, which is to cause birth

abnormalities in pregnant women.

 

So, why is it so difficult to prescribe it to a seventy-year-old man?

Because it is thalidomide, and thalidomide is scary.

 

On the other hand, in the UK we are going to allow statins to be made

available over the counter and - hey, guess what? If you are a woman, and

you get pregnant whilst on statins there is a massive risk of severe,

horrible birth defects. Worse defects than were ever caused by thalidomide.

 

At least thalidomide didn’t affect the brain, causing ‘defective septum

separating lateral cerebral ventricles’, or ‘duplication of the spinal

cord.’ Duplication of the spinal cord!

 

We are sleep-walking into what could be a major medical disaster. Most

people, and most doctors, are unaware – or don’t seem to care – that

statins should never ever be taken by a women of child-bearing age. The

risk, it would seem, is greater than that posed by thalidomide, and no-one

seems to be the least bit bothered. ‘Yeh, whatever.’

 

Yet, when statins go OTC it is absolutely certain that women of

childbearing age will take them, knowing nothing of this risk. It is

equally certain that a number of these women will become pregnant, and many

of these pregnancies will result in horribly deformed children.

 

How can this possibly be allowed to happen? I can only suppose that it is

because everyone believes statins to be utterly safe and cuddly. ‘Statins,

why they can’t do any harm. They are safer than aspirin aren’t they?’

 

Left arm: aplasia of radius and thumb, shortened ulna; additional VACTERL

(vertebral, anal, cardiac, tracheal, esophageal, renal and limb defects):

left arthrogryposis, thoracic scoliosis, fusion of ribs on left, butterfly

vertebra in thoracic and lumbar region, esophageal stricture, anal atresia,

renal dysplasia; additional findings: hemihypertrophy of entire left side,

craniofacial anomalies (including asymmetric ears, ptosis of eyelids, high

arched palate), torticollis.

I am quite certain that many of you won’t know what some of these defects

actually are; neither do I. Arthrogryposis….. isn’t that the fabled winged

beast in Harry Potter?

 

But these defects shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise. Cholesterol is

essential for the development of neural tissue, so we should expect to find

that if the mother is taking a drug that inhibits cholesterol synthesis at

a time when the fetus is developing – horrible developmental abnormalities

will occur. Such as failure of the brain to develop in the right way, or

duplication of the spinal cord.

 

For more complete details of the birth defects caused by statins consider

reading the New England Journal of Medicine, April 8, 2004: pages 1579 –

1582. It’s a letter by Robin J Edison and Maximilian Muenke.