Unsafe By Any Name
FDA Staff Questions Heart Risks of Merck's Arcoxia
Though the FDA tends to be unjustifiably favorably disposed toward the Big Pharmaceutical Companies (the agency relies upon Big Pharmacy for it's financial lifeblood, after all), staffers of the FDA have been getting more attention from the press lately and have apparently been enjoying a little more freedom to speak their minds in the analysis of drugs that come before them for review.
Today, FDA staffers are reporting that "Merck & Co. Inc.'s painkiller Arcoxia offers only a "marginal" advantage in gastrointestinal safety but seems "worse than" other pain drugs in terms of deaths and serious cardiovascular problems. In plain language this means that the new drug Merck would like to sell us is not as likely to cause stomach troubles but is more likely to cause a deadly stroke or heart attack. Wow, what a deal! Are these drug companies in the same reality system as the rest of us? Or is the quest for profit blinding them to the human suffering they cause by pressing ahead to offer toxic potions in spite of the known dangers?
It is beginning to appear that the Cox-2 inhibitor drugs are perhaps unsafe as a class, not just as individual drugs. The Cox-2's were developed, at the cost of millions in research funding by the drug companies, to be the next great pain-killers. They were "designed" to be without the gastrointestinal problems and possibly fatal bleeding possible with traditional NSAIDS such as Naproxen and Ibuprofen. They were also intended to avoid the liver toxicity of Aceteminophen (Tylenol). The COX 2's accomplish this to some degree, but they carry a big risk of stroke and heart attack. For the average consumer, the "new and improved" benefits do not outweight the also newly introduced risks.
The drug companies did not invest all that money in research to develop these drugs out of the goodness of their hearts, or because of their love for mankind - they made a shrewd business investment, and as their gamble is beginning to crumbleas they frantically cast about trying to find something else these drugs might be used for. Cancer and Alzheimer's are two favorite targets that might enable them to continue selling these dangerous drugs and keep the profits flowing a little longer.
Shame on the Big Pharmaceutical Companies, and bravo for the FDA staffers who are finding their voices in honestly reporting the dangers of these drugs. If only the FDA could be persuaded to ease it's relentless and unjustified persecution of vitamins, herbs, and dietary supplements, traditional remedies for many of the same ailments that Big Pharmacy is attempting to address with it's laboratory-brewed "Frankenstein" concoctions.
Natural remedies, for the most part, have centuries if not millennia of successful and safe use, and more recently many of them have incontrovertible research supporting their safety and efficacy. You may be sure that when my knee gets cranky from running I take bromelain, not some fancy (and dangerous) Cox-2 drug. The bromelain works wonders and its side-effects are additional, positive benefits, not stroke risk. (Bromelain actually reduces the risk of stroke by improving blood viscosity). Traditional remedies, herbal supplements, and alternative and holistic medicine don't have the blessing of Big Pharmacy (and that is only because they don't offer Big Pharmacy the fantastic profit margins of synthetic drugs) but they have much to offer with a far better "safety profile."
To paraphrase a crusader of decades ago, the Cox-2 drugs are a class of drugs that are "Unsafe by any name!"
Cheers,
Nurse Mark
Wellness Club website:
www.DrMyattsWellnessClub.com <http://www.drmyattswellnessclub.com/>;
10:50:05 AM 
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