NSAID's - The Jaw-Dropping Truth
by Shane Ellison M.Sc.
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 Journal of 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American Medical Association (JAMA) sent him an unpublished drug review on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 gets 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
Okie, Susan. Washington Post, August 5, 2001; Page A11
Ivan Oransky and Jeanne Lenzer. Ties to drug manufacturers deform medical
reviews. USA Today. McLean, Va.:Aug1, 2002. pg A. 11
Singh Gurkirpal, MD, "Recent Considerations in Nonsteroidal Anti-
Inflammatory Drug Gastropathy", The American Journal of Medicine, July 27,
1998, p. 31S
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 www.healthmyths.net.
Visit them for jaw-dropping facts about health, fitness and natural medicine