Friday, May 07, 2004

Unfavorable data from drug studies suppressed...              (more of the same - we've read this before, no?) The risks to children taking some antidepressants could outweigh the benefits, according to an analysis of data that pharmaceutical companies did not make widely available to the public or to researchers. About half of the results had not previously been published in medical journals, so researchers and doctors didn't have access to them. The published data showed the drugs benefited young patients with depression. But when the unpublished results were factored in, the risks outweighed the benefits, the researchers said. It's unclear why the studies were not published, but critics accuse pharmaceutical companies of withholding studies that didn't turn out the way they hoped. Data on four out of the five antidepressants examined, showed the drugs had the potential to do more harm than good in depressed kids, according to research published in the April issue of the British medical journal The Lancet. To read the full article click here. Suppression of unfavorable clinical trials is quite common. Under current rules the pharmaceutical companies do not have to present the results of ALL their clinical trials to get drug approval. This means that they sometimes have to do many clinical trials until they get one which gives them the results they are looking for. This 'trial and error' approach is made possible by the careful selection of 'subjects' who are most likely to respond to the drugs being tested. As the article explains, Physicians are usually blissfully unaware of all the negative implications from the drugs they are prescribing because they have not read the negative data, only the 'official' information from the drug companies with the most favorable 'spin'... 12:58:37 PM    comment [] ASPIRIN ....NOT QUITE THE WONDER DRUG AFTER ALL... It wasn't so long ago that aspirin was being hailed as one of the wonder drugs of the 20th century. It was so good in fact that some zealots were saying it should be part of everyone's daily health regime. This advice may need a slight adjustment following several studies that have suggested that aspirin might cause as many problems as it's supposed to prevent. The latest is aspirin-induced asthma, which could affect up to 21% of all those who regularly take it or another NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug). This extraordinary discovery was based on an analysis of 66 medical papers, some of which date back to 1964. As the reaction was known 40 years ago, the wonder is that aspirin was crowned a wonder drug in the first place. While on the subject of aspirin, a new study has found that many people who regularly take the drug still suffer heart problems. This phenomenon has given birth to a new condition: aspirin resistance. No chance that the drug doesn't actually offer protection, then? (Source: British Medical Journal, 2004; 328: 434-7). No great surprise here. The regular taking of Aspirin is a classic example of people blindly going along with 'the crowd' by taking a drug long term for generally preventive purposes without thinking about the possible negative long term effects. People need to know they can derive the same benefits, plus much, much more from just 2,000mgs of pure distilled fish oil daily!  12:54:33 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Arline Brecher. Last update: 6/2/2004; 2:58:27 PM.