What Doctors Don't Tell You Readers' Broadcast

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WDDTY e-News Service - 18 November 2004

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 23:13:03 0000

 

WHAT DOCTORS DON'T TELL YOU READERS' BROADCAST

 

 

 

E-news broadcast - 18 November 2004 - No.108

 

 

SPECIAL NOTE: Please feel free to email this broadcast to any friends

you think would appreciate receiving it.

 

 

 

DRUG ALERT: If you thought Vioxx was bad, Bextra could be worse

 

 

This is a special alert for anyone taking drugs for their arthritis,

and especially if you are taking a COX-2 inhibitor, supposedly a safer

option than the older NSAID painkillers, or a TNF-blocking drug for

rheumatoid arthritis.

You've probably all read about Vioxx being pulled after it was

associated with heart problems, but there's more bad news in the

offing for this new family of drugs.

After Vioxx disappeared, doctors quickly turned to another COX-2,

Bextra, as their drug of choice, but this is already being linked to

similarly serious problems.

A pooled analysis of clinical trial results has shown patients taking

Bextra were twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as those

taking a placebo. In fact, an analysis of nearly 6,000 patients showed

the risk of Bextra to be higher than Vioxx.

The American drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),

is so concerned by the latest findings that it is expected to order a

complete review of the Cox-2 drugs. It joins the European Medicines

Evaluation Agency, which has already ordered a safety review.

The FDA's move seems to be an attempt to redeem itself. Regular

E-news readers will recall that the agency had approved the use of

Vioxx among children just days before it was removed from the market.

This was an extraordinary decision for a drug that almost doubles the

risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who had taken it for 18

months. The FDA reckons that Vioxx may have caused more than 27,000

heart attacks in the four years it has been on the market, of which

7,000 have been fatal.

The agency is also concerned about another class of anti-arthritics,

the TNF (tumour necrosis factor)-blocking drugs. The TNF-blockers,

which include Enbrel and Remicede, block the overproduction of TNF, an

inflammation-regulating protein that medicine believes is behind the

inflammation seen in rheumatoid arthritis.

But the agency is worried by reports that the drugs may be linked to

170 cases of lymphoma that have cropped up among patients in the past

five years.

The agency has already asked manufacturers to include a box warning

with its product information sheets. As regular readers will know,

the black box is a venomous device that usually puts big pharma in its

place. The warning has to appear in an emboldened typeface, and put

in a box, thus ensuring that drug companies cannot kill and harm with

impunity.

* So what are the safe - and effective - options if you have

arthritis? The WDDTY Arthritis Manual is the most comprehensive

review of the condition, and all the treatments available.

Conventional and alternative therapies are assessed, based on all the

available scientific data. It's presented as a ring-bound manual that

can be constantly updated. To order your copy, :

http://www.wddty.co.uk/shop/details.asp?product=366

 

 

 

The book that shook the medical establishment just got bigger and better

 

 

One of the publishing events of 2005 will be the re-issue of the book

'What Doctors Don't Tell You' written by our very own Lynne McTaggart,

editor of the newsletter by the same name. Due for publication in

January 2005, this new edition contains 35% new information than the

original, and has been fully revised and updated.

This groundbreaking book lets you in on the real trade secrets of

medicine. It offers up-to-the-minute proven scientific alternatives

for diagnosing, preventing or treating many illnesses. 'What Doctors

Don't Tell You' will become your medical bible, helping you to take

control of your own health - in short it's your insurance policy

against becoming just another medical statistic! Dr Gillian McKeith

called it: 'The ultimate almanac by a pioneer and innovator in the

field of health....a must-read for all.'

 

We have secured a limited number of copies for distribution to our

e-News readers and rs. What's more, we are offering the book

at a specially reduced pre-publication price for orders placed before

31st December 2004. To order your copy at this reduced price - or to

order a copy for a friend -

http://www.wddty.co.uk/shop/details.asp?product=406

However, please note that copies will not be despatched until after

Christmas.

 

 

 

WONDER DRUG, NO. 1729: This time it's the ultimate magic bullet

 

 

If you happen to read a newspaper, listen to the radio or watch

television, you probably already know about a new wonder drug. In

fact, the drug - rimonabant, and marketed in the USA as Acomplia - is

the ultimate magic bullet.

People will no longer have to exercise self-restraint or act

responsibly - the drug does it for you. It works by 'switching off'

the addictive part of the brain, so it could be used to stop all sorts

of bad habits, such as excessive drinking, cigarette smoking or

overeating.

Its results were impressive. A study of 3,000 patients in the United

States and Canada who took rimonabant found that most lost weight and

kept it off for two years. Sixty percent of patients given a larger

dose of rimonabant lost more than 5 percent of their body weight,

while a third lost more than 10 percent. That amounts to a weight loss

of 19 pounds, compared to 5.1 pounds in the placebo group. Also, the

study showed that rimonabant shrank patients' waistlines. Those on the

high dose (20 milligrams) lost 3 inches around their waists, compared

with 1.9 inches for those on the low dose (5 milligrams) and 1.5

inches for those on a placebo.

But here's the rub. Those who stopped taking the drug in the second

year put back on all the weight they had lost. So keep taking the

medicine. As we said, the ultimate drug.

 

 

 

DSHEA: Is this the beginning of the end?

 

 

Despite our most valiant efforts, it looks like we're losing the fight

with the EU to safeguard our vitamins and traditional medicines. But

throughout, we were always able to look to the USA as an example of

consumer power over the large multinationals.

Back in the early 1990s, America's vitamin industry faced a similar

threat to that being posed by the EU. But there was such an outcry

that Congress safeguarded vitamin supplies in the Dietary Supplement

Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). The deal was simple: don't

make any health claims for the products on the labels, and you can

freely distribute and sell them.

There have been a few attempts to amend, or even overthrow DSHEA in

the last couple of years, but they have so far failed.

But the threat is getting stronger. Last week the Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) announced three major regulatory initiatives to

change DSHEA.

The FDA says it intends " to improve the transparency, predictability,

and consistency of its scientific evaluations and regulatory actions

to protect consumers against unsafe dietary supplements and dietary

supplements making unauthorized, false, or misleading claims " .

The process begins with a " signal detection " . Signals of a possible

safety concern can come from Federal, state and local counterparts;

adverse event reports; foreign regulatory actions; media reports;

information from consumer groups; and consultation with experts.

This may sound reasonable enough, but we understand that it is

anything but. It will become open season for anyone to make claims

about any supplement, which may quickly lead to its removal from the

shelves.

Our friends in the States have been warning us that once the EU

restrictions were introduced, the USA would follow. It's just

happening sooner than even we thought.

Perhaps we could negotiate for a black box warning instead.

 

 

 

CAUSE AND EFFECT: How the medical world turns

 

 

Readers with very long memories may recall that we got hold of a

secret memo that revealed that the manufacturers of Prozac were

concerned that too few children in the UK and the rest of Europe were

being prescribed the drug. As a result it was planning a major push

among doctors.

Well, those of you who don't believe that doctors work to the behest

of the drug company salesmen should look away now. New figures reveal

that prescriptions for the antidepressant have risen by 68 per cent,

to 700,000 a year, in just two years - around the time the memo was

written.

* And if you really want to understand how the drug industry works,

you really must read the WDDTY Secrets of the Drugs Industry. The

process of drug testing and licensing is fully explained, as is the

way the drugs are then marketed. Prepare to be astonished. To buy

your copy, :

http://www.wddty.co.uk/shop/details.asp?product=341

 

 

 

VITAMIN E: Yes, but. . .

 

 

The world's press has gleefully jumped on the study that suggests high

doses of vitamin E could increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

The risks were associated with daily doses of around 400 IU

(international units) or above.

Currently safe upper limits are thought to be around 1500 IUs, and

this has been established by testing the supplement in a range of trials.

The new findings are also based on a review of 19 trials - so why the

difference? In the first place, the new meta-analysis, carried out by

researchers at Johns Hopkins university, involved mainly elderly

people with chronic conditions, and so did not include a younger,

healthier population.

Despite this, the media interpreted the results as a health concern

for everyone, which is not justified.

Secondly, the analysis reviewed trials that used only a-tocopherol,

one of seven forms of vitamin E, and a synthetic variety at that. A

better form, y-tocopherol, has been proven to help prevent heart

disease and cancer.

So, again, a global condemnation of vitamin E was not justified.

The correct headlines should have read something like: 'Synthetic form

of vitamin E may raise heart risk among elderly with chronic conditions'.

Of course, the truth has nothing to do with it. Expect to see vitamin

E disappear from the shelves of your friendly healthstore - in the UK

and the USA - some time soon.

 

 

View our e-News broadcast archives, follow this link -

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

 

 

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