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ON THE DRUG SCENE

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"The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported that more than 50 per cent of scientific advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration have financial ties to pharma companies whose drugs they review'for safety and efficacy'.

Rhody Lake, Alive June 2004

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Conflicting interests

The publication of a new book by the former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine has focused attention on what appear to be conflicts of interests between government regulatory agencies and the producers of the drugs they regulate. Dr Jerome Kassirer is a professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. His book is appropriately titled On the Take.

The proposal by the manufacturers to make statin drugs like Lipitor and Zocor available over the counter instead of only by prescription has caused some consumer groups to raise questions about the possible influence of personal interests on the input of eight of the nine members appointed to the government's guidelines advisory panel. Two even owned stock in statin-producing companies.

Dr James Cleeman, the only panel member with no financial ties to the drug industry said he "read the science the same way" as the other panelists, however.

Marilynn Marchione, AP Medical Report October 17, 2004

Part of the problem is that two-thirds of university medical research is funded by the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, the industry invests a lot of money ($2 billion in 2001) entertaining doctors while instructing them about their products.

Drug companies not only withhold unfavorable

results but also pressure others to do so

Peter Wilmshurst, a leading UK heart surgeon, refused a bribe of two years' salary not to publish unfavorable results of a study he had conducted on an approved drug.

The Sunday Express 7 November 2004

CLDs inhibit production of CoQ10

Cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLDs) inhibit the body's production of coenzyme CoQ10, which is critical for normal heart function according to Dr Ken Walker, a practicing Toronto physician and medical columnist who writes under the name of Dr W Gifford-Jones.

CLDs such as Lipitor, Zocor, Mevacor and others are effective in decreasing blood cholesterol," he writes, "But as always there's a price to pay for drugs." (emphasis added)

CLDs work by inhibiting the production of an enzyme needed to produce cholesterol. Unfortunately, this enzyme is also necessary for producing Co-Q10, which is needed for normal heart function.

A single year's use of a CLD can reduce Co-Q10 production by as much as 40%. Some researchers have suggested that lower levels of Co-Q10 might be responsible for the higher rate of congestive heart failure we are seeing..

Walker is concerned that ex-president Clinton may not be getting enough, if any, Co-Q10 to compensate for the loss produced by the CLDs that are routinely prescribed for persons in his situation. Canandaigua Messenger Oct 3, 2004

CoQ10 supplementation to bolster the body's declining supply also acts to prevent heart problems and has been shown to reduce angina occurrence by as much as 50%.

Mothers' antidepressant use affects newborns

Health Canada (Canada's equivalent of the FDA) issued a warning in August that newborns may be adversely affected by their mothers' use of a type of antidepressants known as selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors. This was particularly true when the drugs were taken during the third trimester.

These drugs include Zoloft, Zyban, Prozac, Paxil, Wellbutrin, Celexa, Luvox, Remeron, and Effexor.

The babies developed complications requiring breathing support and tube feeding. It is not clear whether the babies' symptoms (difficulty breathing and feeding, seizures, rigidity. jitteriness and constant crying) were a direct effect of the drug or whether they were suffering from withdrawal.

Adults' withdrawal symptoms include dizziness, vertigo, impaired coordination, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, lethargy, muscle pain and chills.

Two months after the Canadian warning was issued, the FDA convened an advisory committee of outside experts which advised against issuing a public warning as Health Canada had done The committee recommended a warning to pharmacists. This type of highly technical warning does not ordinarily reach consumers, however.

Worst Pills Best Pills October 2004

Accutane may be linked to depression and suicide

Anecdotal reports of depression and suicide in patients taking Accutane (isotretino-in) to treat acne led J Douglas Bremner and colleagues at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta to reason that the drug might cause changes in the brain

After taking a battery of psychological tests, a group of 28 people with acne were given PET brain scans to measure brain activity. Then they were treated for four months either with Accutane or a course of antibiotics used to treat acne.

A second series of PET scans revealed that those who had taken Accutane had decreased activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, an area of the brain thought to control mood and social interaction, while those who had taken antibiotics did not.

Findings are preliminary but suggest that physicians should look for depression in patients taking Accutane,

Science News, Nov 6, 2004

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"When these famous doctors advised the government recently on new cholesterol guidelines for the public, something else they had in common wasn't revealed. Eight of the nine (cholesterol drug advisory panelists) were making money from the very companies whose cholesterol lowering drugs they were urging upon millions more Americans." AP Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione Oct 17, 2004

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Antidepressant drugs linked to violence

The case of Christopher Pittman of South Carolina who shot his grandparents to death and burned their house down when he was 12, has caused concern that antidepressant drugs like the Zoloft he was taking cause people to act violently. In another case, a Wyoming jury awarded $6.5 million to the surviving members of a family of a man who had killed his wife, daughter and granddaughter two days after starting to take another antidepressant, Paxil. Daily Dose November 2, 2004

Publisher W.C. Douglass, MD, suggests investigating whether antidepressants were involved in other cases of violence.

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