| NSAID's - The Jaw-Dropping Truth |  |
by Shane Ellison M.Sc.
All Rights Reserved
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
Journalof 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unpublished drug review on the arthritis medication Celebrex to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
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.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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 and
http://www.healthmyths.net. Visit them for jaw-dropping facts about
health, fitness and natural medicine!
|
|
