Monthly Archives: February 2010

If Drugs Were Like Cars I Guess We Would Be a Lot Safer

According to an Institute for Safe Medication Practices report (see here) more than 1000 reports of patient deaths were received by FDA for rosiglitazone (AVANDIA) in the first three quarters of 2009, “more than any other drug we monitor.”

In contrast, at least 34 deaths have been linked to Toyota vehicle problems going back as far as 2004, forcing Toyota to recall more than 8 million vehicles worldwide.

The top executives of Toyota also had to appear before Congress and apologize profusely.

GSK (the maker of AVANDIA), on the other hand, is on an all out campaign to discredit the Senate investigation of AVANDIA.

According to one expert on the need to warn “If people are afraid to buy Toyotas, they should be about 400 times more afraid to take AVANDIA! I base this on an estimate of yearly death rates for AVANDIA (1333) vs Toyota (3.4). ”

Just like you can go out and buy a Honda instead of a Toyota, diabetes patients can go out and buy ACTOS instead of AVANDIA, according to Stephen Nissen, Chief Cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic. If, that is, consumers evaluated drugs like they do automobiles.

Avandia: Are 500 Heart Attacks Per Month Enough to Convince You

A decade ago people were afraid of big the profit motives of Big Tobacco. Today those fears no turn to the profit motives of Big Pharma. The story appearing in today’s NYT is frightening to say the least.

According to the NYT, “The reports, obtained by The New York Times, say that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar pill named Actos, about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be averted every month because Avandia can hurt the heart.
How much longer do we need to wait before Congress fixes this problem. If an airplane dropped from the sky every month killing 500 people do you think someone from Washington might do something about it?
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Accutane Verdict: More Evidence that Drug Safety System is Broken

An Atlantic County jury awarded $25.16 million to Andrew McCarrell of Birmingham, Ala., after finding that Roche knew or should have known that Accutane caused inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and failed to warn prescribing physicians. It’s the largest of five victories that Accutane users have won against the drug maker, including a $13 million verdict last November for three plaintiffsContinue Reading

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