"FDA advisers say Darvon should be banned" by Associated Press | January 31, 2009
WASHINGTON - Government medical advisers yesterday recommended a ban on Darvon, a prescription medicine that's been used to treat pain for more than 50 years but left a trail of problems such as addiction and suicide.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted 14 to 12 to recommend withdrawing Darvon after a daylong hearing examining its risks and benefits. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its advisers, but often does.
Darvon was first approved in 1957, when there were few alternatives for treating pain other than aspirin and powerful narcotics. Now mainly marketed as Darvocet, which includes a dose of acetaminophen, the drug remains one of the top 25 most commonly prescribed medications. More than 20 million prescriptions were written in 2007.
The consumer group Public Citizen had petitioned the FDA to withdraw Darvon because the drug offers relatively weak pain relief and poses an overdose risk, with the potential to be used in suicides.
"With a drug that has almost no evidence of benefit, any risk is unacceptable," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, a drug safety expert with Public Citizen who first sought a ban in the 1970s. "Hopefully the FDA will follow the vote of its advisers."
I want to know why the vote was so close.
Two companies that market the drug - Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals and Qualitest/Vintage Pharmaceuticals - say the medication is safe and effective when used as directed. In documents filed with the FDA, the companies said doctors need a range of options to treat pain and noted that many other painkillers have become drugs of abuse - some with far worse consequences.
They don't care about your health; they care about $$$.
Dr. Jerry Avorn, a professor of medicine at Harvard and a critic of the pharmaceutical industry commended the FDA for taking a hard look at Darvon.
"I have been astonished at how widely used this drug is," Avorn said. "It's no longer the most abusable and most dangerous drug in its class, but the fact that there are worse drugs doesn't make Darvon a good drug."
The United Kingdom banned its version of Darvon in 2005. If the FDA decides not to follow suit, it may take other steps, such as requiring stiffer warnings, safety studies, or special education efforts aimed at doctors and patients.--more--"
I wouldn't put too much faith in the FDA, folks.
FDA Protects Big Pharma While Telling Americans "F*** You!"
FDA Doesn't Care About Cancer
FDA Approval to Immunize Drug Companies From Lawsuits
Just in time!
"'Blood-washing' cuts Tysabri danger" by Bloomberg News | February 3, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO - A blood-washing treatment may quickly remove Biogen Idec Inc.'s Tysabri from the bloodstream of multiple sclerosis patients, potentially neutralizing a rare side effect before it could kill them.
Tysabri was pulled from the market in February 2005 by the company and its marketing partner, Elan Corp., after three patients developed a viral brain disease called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and two of them died.
Since US regulators allowed the companies to resume selling the drug in July 2006, four new cases of PML have been reported in Tysabri users.
(Blog author is stunned reading that; they allowed the drug back on the market?)
All four patients were treated with the blood-washing method and only one of them died, said Robert Fox, medical director of the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis at the Cleveland Clinic. A study led by Fox, funded by Biogen, and published yesterday in the journal Neurology showed blood-washing pared Tysabri to acceptable levels within two weeks.
Seriously, they are calling a 25% DEATH RATE a SUCCESS?
It is the DRUG COMPANIES that are SICK, folks!!
"If you decide that a patient needs to get rid of the drug, you want to do it as fast as you can," Fox said yesterday. "We were able to reduce Tysabri levels by 92 percent" with the treatment.
Tysabri, is approved to treat MS patients not helped by other drugs. Tysabri generated $597 million in sales in the first nine months of 2008, but sales growth slowed in the fourth quarter.
And THAT is what is IMPORTANT!!
--more--"
So how are sales going?
"Icahn fires 2d salvo at Biogen IdeC; 4th-largest investor again attempts to put nominees on board" By Todd Wallack, Globe Staff | February 7, 2009
.... Separately, Biogen Idec reported $1.1 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter, up 20 percent from the same period a year ago. Profit rose 3 percent to $207 million.
Killing people is GOOD BUSINESS, I guess.
Much of the growth was driven by Tysabri, Biogen Idec's powerful drug to treat multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease. As of year-end, more than 37,000 patients were using Tysabri, which is comarketed by Elan Corp. of Ireland.
But Biogen Idec chief executive James Mullen warned it would be "quite difficult" for the company to achieve its goal of signing up 100,000 Tysabri patients by the end of 2010. Tysabri's growth has slowed sharply amid growing concerns about a potentially deadly side effect, a brain disease called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Yesterday, Biogen Idec reported another Tysabri patient has contracted the disease, the fifth since August.
But hey, it MADE BIOGEN'S QUARTER!!
Who cares that the drug KILLS PEOPLE?
The POISON should be YANKED OFF the SHELVES RIGHT NOW!!!
Of course, there is one set of drugs that works. The government wants to get so far up our asses, thank God the butt drugs work!!
"Study: Two drugs may worsen colon cancer, not help it" by Stephanie Nano, Associated Press | February 5, 2009
NEW YORK - Doctors thought that combining two newer drugs that more precisely attack cancer would help people with advanced colon cancer. Instead, it made the cancer worse and made the patients more miserable, a study found.
The surprising findings underscore the importance of doing rigorous studies before rushing to mix these pricey, new-generation drugs, the Dutch researchers and other specialists said....
Colorectal cancer is the nation's second leading cancer killer. The disease was expected to kill almost 50,000 Americans last year although death rates are dropping because of screening and better treatment....
I'm wondering how the death rates dropped as they were prescribing this painful poison to people. How could that be?
And despite all the pills....
"Respiratory virus found common in US children" by Reuters | February 5, 2009
A highly contagious respiratory virus is far more widespread among children than once thought and puts more of them in the hospital than influenza, US researchers reported yesterday....
Most of the children had no previous health problems. In many instances, because the illness was misdiagnosed, the children were treated with antibiotics....
Okay, so WHAT GERM did the government release, and what did they poison the kids with?
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