Celebrity Endorsements of Dangerous Drugs

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Kay Van Wey

Paula Deen recently endorsed the potentially dangerous diabetes drug Victoza, making headlines that have drawn criticism.

On Victoza's label is a warning that the drug may cause pancreatitis, much like the warnings on other diabetes drugs Byetta and Januvia. Since the drug was approved in 2010, health experts have become increasingly concerned that this drug also increases the risk of pancreatitis. 

But Paula Deen is not the only celebrity who has promoted or is currently promoting a potentially dangerous drug. Other celebrities include Paul and Mira Sorvino who have promoted diabetes drug Lantus, which studies have found may double the user’s risk of getting cancer.

And diabetes drugs are not the only pharmaceutical drugs with dangerous side effects. Within the past couple of years, studies have shown that bisphosphonates, like Boniva and Fosamax, cause low impact femur fractures. Many of the patients taking these drugs who suffered femur fractures were doing simple activities at the time of the fracture, including stepping off a curb. Actress Sally Field has appeared on commercials for Boniva since 2006. 

In addition, pro-golfer Phil Mickelson suffers from psoriatic arthritis, an autoimmune disease. He is currently endorsing Enbrel, a drug that blocks proteins, which can cause arthritic inflammation. Enbrel and other drugs like it suppress the immune system, putting patients at risk for contracting dangerous infections, including tuberculosis and histoplasmosis. Numerous deaths have been linked to these infections.

Finally, former Olympic champion Bruce Jenner promoted the top-selling arthritis drug Vioxx. But in 2004, Vioxx was recalled after studies found it increased the risk of heart attack. Jenner claimed that he had never been told about the risks.

Unfortunately, some drug companies care more about profits than about the health of patients. To learn more about the secrets of the pharmaceutical industry and deadly side effects, download my e-book, 7 Secrets the Pharmaceutical Industry Does NOT Want You to Know.

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Pastry Chef Reverses Type-2 Diabetes Diagnosis without Drugs

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Kay Van Wey

Southern chef Paula Deen recently announced that she has type-2 diabetes, which did not surprise many Americans, who for years have watched the chef make dishes loaded with calories, fat, and sugar.  With her health announcement, Deen also announced that she was endorsing diabetes drug Victoza, made by drug company Novo Nordisk.

Big Pharma Influences How People View Diabetes

Deen’s partnership with big pharma drew criticism not only from her critics, but also from her fans.  Chef Anthony Bourdain has criticized Deen’s cooking for years, and upon learning of her announcement, took to Twitter writing “Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later.”

While Deen has said she has changed her eating habits and has cut out the sweet tea, many question whether she really has changed the way she eats or whether she’s simply using Victoza to counteract eating poorly.  Either way, her recent partnership sends the message that people can eat what they want, and if they happen to develop diabetes, there’s a drug for that.

Diet & Exercise May Reverse Type-2 Diabetes

Health experts say people with type-2 diabetes don’t necessarily need to take diabetes drugs, many of which have been found to cause bladder cancer, thyroid cancer, and pancreatitis.  For many patients, eating better and exercising can reverse a type-2 diabetes diagnosis. Pastry chef Michael Mignano is proof of this.

Mignano spent years sampling his own sugar-filled creations and picking up fast food after a long day at work.  By the time he turned 36 years-old, he weighed 500 pounds and had been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes.  Realizing the risks he was taking by eating unhealthy, Mignano agreed to go on “Fat Chef,” a new show on Food Network in which chefs like Mignano learn how to eat healthy and exercise.

Since filming, Mignano has lost over 100 pounds and has reversed his type-2 diabetes diagnosis, all without taking pills.  “Medicine is great, but it gives you this false sense of healing, but it’s not really doing what it’s supposed to do,” he said in a recent interview with ABC News.

Mignano is the first to admit that working with the food that contributed to his obesity is not easy, and neither is getting into a regular exercise routine.  But he says “It just makes me a happier chef, a happier person, which the result, you have happier food.”

Although “Fat Chef” is done filming, Mignano says he plans to stick with his diet and exercise regimen.  He hopes to drop his weight down to 250 and stay diabetes free.

Big Pharma’s Influence

For years, major pharmaceutical companies have pushed diabetes drugs on Americans with ever-growing waistlines, sending the message that you can eat whatever bad food you want because a pill will nullify the food’s bad effects.  But drugs like Avandia, Actos, and even Paula Deen’s Victoza may be more dangerous than helpful.  Avandia was pulled from the U.S. market completely after studies showed it caused heart attacks and death.  Actos is still on the market, but has been shown to cause bladder cancer.  And Victoza may cause thyroid cancer and acute pancreatitis.

To learn more about how big pharma influences consumers and their doctors, download my free e-book Prescription Drug Safety today at www.vanweylaw.com.

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The Paula Deen Principle: Don't Worry, We Have a Pill for That

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Kay Van Wey

 “...when ya’all sit down to a simple plate of crisp fried chicken; a fluffy, warm, just-buttered biscuit; a mess of greens cooked down with a bit of ham; and a tall, handsome banana cream pie topped with ice-cold whipped cream afterward, well, you’ll have to agree; there is just nothing better.” Paula Deen, Southern Cooking Bible

Don’t get me wrong, I like Paula Deen. Her down home genuineness is familiar to me, although, I have wondered on occasion if that southern drawl is drawn out just a little more for the cameras.

At my roots, I am a southern lady. I am a baby boomer who grew up in a small town in southwestern Oklahoma.  I am a foodie, and I hail from a family that loves to eat.  Even before Paula Deen became a household name, my mother used to say that she’d slip in an extra stick of butter into her cheese grits recipe when Dad wasn’t looking.  Of course, back then we didn’t really completely understand the health dangers of some of the foods we were eating.

Just a few weeks ago, we enjoyed the holidays with some of Paula’s best recipes, including gooey pumpkin bars for Thanksgiving, chocolate pecan pie for Christmas, and brisket and cheese grits for New Year’s Day.

But the recipes that live on in our family traditions precede the advent of direct-to-consumer advertising by pharmaceutical companies.  The Gen X and Gen Y kids have grown up being fed a steady diet of pharmaceutical company ads, sending the message that drugs are good and that a little pill will cure us of our ailments.  We are being trained by these pharmaceutical companies and their Madison Avenue advertising agencies to eat whatever we want, including that high fat cheeseburger; after all, we have a pill to lower high cholesterol.  And if you develop diabetes, it isn’t a death sentence. We have pills for that. Want to perform better in bed? We have pills for that. Want longer eyelashes? You guessed it…we’ve got a pharmaceutical solution.

Now, as I have said before, there are many good drugs on the market that actually cure disease. There are many drugs on the market that some people can’t live without.  But, major pharmaceutical companies are also coming up with a whole new generation of drugs that are more like lifestyle drugs. They don’t cure anything, and they allow people to make really poor choices, thinking that a pill will make up for their bad decisions.

I wish a fraction of the money that was spent peddling drugs for chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and the like was spent on educating people about how to prevent themselves from getting these conditions in the first place.

What many people don’t know is the high risk and sometimes deadly toll some of these drugs can have on people. For example, the diabetes drug Avandia caused an estimated 83,000 heart attacks between 1999 and 2007, some of which resulted in death. The FDA finally pulled the drug from the market after trial lawyers had filed thousands of lawsuits against Avandia’s maker.

Another popular diabetes drug, Actos, has been pulled from the market in France and Germany after studies show it dramatically increases the risk of bladder cancer.  But Actos remains on the market in the United States, putting patients in danger of developing the disease.

I won’t stop buying Paula Deen cookbooks, and I will still make some of her recipes on special occasions. But listen up y’all, I can’t help but wonder why she waited three years to make the announcement that she has type-2 diabetes. Three years Paula? Come on now. Did it take your lawyers and agents that long to strike a 7 figure deal with a pharmaceutical company to endorse its diabetes drug? Was the timing of your announcement pure coincidence when it coincided with the announcement of your endorsement deal with Novo Nordisk?

While I am truly sorry to hear about Paula’s diagnosis, I can’t help but be disappointed in the fact that she has teamed up with a pharmaceutical company to market drugs for people to rely upon, instead of focusing on helping people lead healthier lives.  To learn more about how pharmaceutical companies get you to buy their drugs, download my free e-book Prescription Drug Safety: 7 Secrets the Pharmaceutical Industry Does NOT Want You to Know today at www.vanweylaw.com.

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FDA Issues New Warning Label for Chantix

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Kay Van Wey

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We’re all hoping for that miracle pill.  You know, the pill that will make us thinner without having to diet or workout, the pill that will get rid of fine lines and wrinkles, or the pill that will help us quit smoking. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a miracle pill.  
 
Sure, some prescription drugs are helpful and can give us a better quality of life, if used correctly. But some prescription drugs have proven to be dangerous to our health, reducing our overall quality of life.
 
One such dangerous pill is Chantix (generic name Varenicline), touted by major pharmaceutical company Pfizer as the pill that would help people quit smoking.  The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug in 2006 to help people quit smoking.  But recent studies suggest that Chantix may put its patients at an increased risk of a heart attack, even if a patient has never had prior heart problems or cardiovascular disease.  These results have prompted the FDA to include a warning on the box regarding potential cardiovascular-related health effects.
 
In 14 studies conducted over the past five years, researchers found that 72 percent of the more than 8,000 patients studied had an increased risk of being hospitalized with a heart attack or serious heart problem, compared to those taking a placebo.  Smokers taking Chantix who had never had heart disease were at a 150 percent increased risk of experiencing an adverse heart event.
 
These results are troubling to many doctors, especially since Chantix is supposed to help reduce the risk of heart attack that comes from smoking.  Researchers now believe the drug is doing exactly what it’s trying to prevent.
 
Some doctors have had concerns about the drug dating back to its release on the market in 2006.  Dr. John Spangler, a co-author of the new research findings, says he raised concerns about the drug and its effect on the heart in 2006 during the drug’s approval process, but that his warnings were ignored by both the FDA and Pfizer, meaning neither patients nor physicians were warned of the risk at the time.
 
When asked why the FDA did not see fit to warn doctors and patients about the drug's risks in 2006, it responded that the data at the time was too inconsistent for a warning label.  Since its approval, Chantix has been the subject of several FDA safety reviews, including one for depression and suicide.  In 2009, the FDA issued a black box warning, the strongest warning issued by the FDA, regarding the risk of depression and suicide for patients taking Chantix.
 
Only recently has the FDA seen fit to issue a new warning, after findings from a 2010 study conducted by Dr. Nancy Rigotti, a professor at Harvard Medical School and the director of Mass General’s Tobacco Research & Treatment Unit, found that there is an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events in patients taking the drug.
 
Sales of Chantix topped $755 million in 2010, putting 13 million people worldwide and seven million in the United States alone at risk for depression, an adverse cardiac event, or even a loss of consciousness, visual disturbances, violent outbursts, or a worsening of diabetes.
 
With the new warning, doctors are limiting or discontinuing the use of Chantix by their patients.  Dr. Jay Cohn of the Rasmussen Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the University of Minnesota is in favor of the FDA’s new warning, saying “[t]he data . . . justify a black box warning on Chantix labeling about cardiovascular risk.”
 
Pfizer disagrees with the results of the studies relied upon by the FDA, but must turnover all of its data regarding adverse cardiovascular events to the FDA.  Chantix serves as a reminder that a pill cannot cure everything.
 
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Lipitor More Effective than Zocor

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Kay Van Wey

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In a recent study out of the United Kingdom, researchers from St. George’s University, the University of London, and the University of Glasgow, found that high dose statin drugs increased the risk of patients contracting type-two diabetes.  But when the study compared Lipitor to Zocor and its generics, researchers found that Lipitor was more effective in decreasing the patient’s risk of a heart attack.

 
This finding comes on the heels of the FDA announcement that Zocor’s labeling would be changed to reflect newer restricted prescribing practices of the drug.  Zocor and its generic, Simvastatin, will no longer be prescribed at the 80 mg dosage to patients who are new to the drug.  And patients taking certain other drugs may have to limit their intake of Zocor because of possible adverse drug reactions.
 
Where patients do need a high dose of statins though, doctors may have to chose the pricier Lipitor, which costs $1.20 a day, over generic Simvastatin, which costs a mere $0.04 a day.
 
Over the five-year study, researchers found that more than eight percent of participants developed diabetes, while 20 percent of patients had a major heart problem.  The study did not look at the recent findings by the FDA that 80mg Simvastatin can cause severe muscle damage and deterioration.
 
Professor Kausik Ray of St. George’s University noted that patients already taking high doses of statins should not stop taking these drugs, but should be monitored by their doctors more closely.  But he reiterated that “[t]he net benefit of Simvastatin is clearly very low and patients on Simvastatin 80 mg should be moved to Atorvastatin 80 mg instead.”
 
Unfortunately, for those without health insurance, Lipitor will be more costly than Simvastatin.  “I don't think we can wait for loss of [Lipitor's] patent to stop using Simvastatin 80 mg,” Ray said.  
 
Lipitor is scheduled to lose its U.S. patent protection this coming November.
 
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