Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Unsafe By Any Name! FDA Staff Questions Heart Risks of Merck's Arcoxia Though the FDA as an agency tends to be very favorably disposed toward the Big Pharmaceutical Companies (the agency relies upon Big Pharmacy for it's financial lifeblood, after all) the staffers of the FDA have been getting more attention from the press lately, and they have apparently been enjoying a little more freedom to speak their conscience in their analysis of drugs that come before them for review. Now, according to this Reuters News item FDA staffers are reporting that "Merck & Co. Inc.'s painkiller Arcoxia offers 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 this drug that Merck would like to sell us is not quite as likely to cause stomach troubles in those who take it, but is more likely to cause a deadly stroke or heart attack. Wow, What a bargain! Are these drug companies connected with reality? Or is the quest for profit blinding them to the human suffering that they cause by pressing ahead to offer toxic potions in spite of evidence of the dangers? It is beginning to appear that the Cox-2 inhibitor drugs are perhaps unsafe as a class, not just as individual drugs , one or the other of which might have a problem on it's own. The Cox-2's were developed, at the cost of millions and millions of dollars in research funding by the drug companies, to be the next, greatest, pain-killers. They were "designed" to be without the gastrointestinal problems such as stomach pain and possibly fatal bleeding that plagued the traditional NSAID drugs such as Naproxen and Ibuprofen, and to avoid the liver toxicity of Aceteminophen (Tylenol). They did those things, to some degree, but it appears that the cost of this is a great risk that they will cause users to suffer a stroke or heart attack. 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 crumble they are frantically casting about to find anything else that these drugs might be used for - cancer and Alzheimer's are two favorite targets - so as to be able to continue selling these concoctions 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 reporting, honestly, the dangers of these drugs. Now, if only the FDA could be persuaded to ease it's relentless 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 - we would really see some progress. These 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'll be taking bromelain, not some fancy (and dangerous) Cox-2 drug, despite the best efforts of Big Pharmacy to sell me on it's "benefits." 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 us, 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 11:26:59 AM

© Copyright 2005 HealthBeat. Last update: 4/1/2005; 8:03:38 AM.