Double-agents of deception and death

[Guest guest]

" WC Douglass " <realhealth

Daily Dose - Double-agents of deception and death

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 11:28:48 -0400

Daily Dose

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August 02, 2005

 

 

 

The drug biz brings in the " ringers "

 

I know I've talked a lot about the Cox-2 inhibitors (Vioxx and

company) prescription painkiller scandal in the last 10 months, but

what can I say? It's an important news story that refuses to go away -

one that's indicative of the deep, pervasive flaws in our drug

approval and oversight system. And in yet another stunning development

that shows just how deep this rabbit-hole of government-sanctioned

deception and death goes...

 

According to a recent Associated Press report, a special advisory

panel or 32 " experts " convened by the FDA to determine whether or not

3 specific medications in this class of painkillers (Cox-2s) should

continue to be sold voted to allow these drugs to stay on the market.

The actual votes were:

 

* 31 to 1 in favor of keeping Pfizer's Celebrex on the market

* 17 to 13 (2 abstained from the vote) in favor of Pfizer's Bextra

* 17 to 15 in favor of continuing to allow the sale of proven

killer Vioxx

 

As if it isn't bad enough that a panel of supposedly objective

authorities in the field voted to allow these deadly drugs to remain

on sale, here's the really scandalous part: 10 of the 32 members of

this committee had financial ties to either Pfizer or Merck, or both!

Yep, you read that right - nearly one third of the members of the very

body entrusted by the FDA to advise on the safety of this class of

drugs had at one point or another been paid speaking honorariums,

consultation fees, or had received research support from the very

companies who make the drugs being scrutinized.

 

And guess what? This 10-member contingent voted almost unanimously to

keep all three of these drugs on the market. According to the AP

piece, their " unbiased " votes broke down like this:

 

* 10-0 in favor of Vioxx

* 10-0 in favor of Celebrex

* 9-1 in favor of Bextra.

 

Without these supporting votes, the panel vote might have turned out a

little differently. Absolutely outrageous, isn't it? It's especially

so when the death toll for Vioxx alone is as high as 139,000 and

climbing, according to blackballed FDA scientist David Graham, the man

who blew the whistle on the scandal back in September of last year.

 

It's not the first time something like this has happened, either. Back

on March 4th, I wrote about how a group of 9 " big wigs " in the

cholesterol control field had all voted as part of a similar advisory

panel in support of a proposal to offer statin drugs in

over-the-counter forms - a move which would have netted their makers

billions in sales. ALL of these doctors had been in the pockets of the

drug business in one way or another.

 

The point is this: Drug companies spray so much easy money around the

modern medical community that it's almost impossible to convene an

objective panel anymore. The result is that those whom we're

entrusting to be objective are actually double-agents bullying our

limp-wristed regulatory system into serving the greed of Big Pharma...

 

While tens of thousands (maybe millions) of people die because of it.

 

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The Fat Cats' pet project

 

Bet you didn't know that there's a fast-growing new market segment for

drug sales. It isn't third-world and developing nations (maybe this

is, too, but that's not what I'm talking about here), it's OUR PETS.

Apparently, it isn't enough to poison every man, woman, and child in

the U.S. with prescription chemicals, but now they've got to go after

Felix and Fido as well.

 

Of course, we're all familiar with things like antibiotics and

heart-worm medications for our beloved companions, but I'll bet you

didn't know that there are prescription-level pet medications for

heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, allergies - even depression!

 

In just the last decade, the number of " people " drugs for pets has

quadrupled. And along with this expansion has come many the same

downsides people endure from taking ever more drugs. That includes

side effects, adverse drug reactions (24,000 of these per year are

reported), and sudden death. In fact, last year the FDA had to enforce

punitive measures against one major pharmaceutical company's animal

drug division after 14 cats died in a painkiller study...

 

Interestingly enough, the drug in question (called Deramaxx) is none

other than an arthritis drug of the Cox-2 Inhibitors class, like

Vioxx, blamed for as many as 139,000 human deaths in the U.S. alone.

Currently, this drug IS approved for use in dogs...

 

Hope yours isn't one of them, if the Cox-2 track record on humans is

any indication.

 

Blowing the whistle on regulation gone to the dogs,

 

William Campbell Douglass II, MD