Pill Mill Monitor : Personal Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Kay Van Wey Law Firm : Prescription Drug Overdoses & Pharmaceutical Abuse

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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Since November 2011, at least 260 deaths worldwide have been linked to new blood thinner Pradaxa.  An estimated 1.1 million prescriptions have already been written for Pradaxa, and 371,000 patients are currently taking the drug.

Serious Bleeding Events

Pradaxa was approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2010 to reduce the risk of blood clots and strokes in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation.  Just over a year after being approved, the FDA issued a safety communication for Pradaxa, warning consumers that patients taking the drug have reported experiencing serious bleeding events.

Symptoms of these adverse events include the following:

• Persistent nose bleeding
• Unusual gum bleeding
• Vomiting or coughing up blood
• Bruising
• Heavier than normal menstrual bleeding
• Red or black stool
• Pink or brown urine
• Severe or uncontrollable bleeding

The FDA recommends that if you or a loved one experiences any of these symptoms, you seek the help of a health care provider immediately.

Can We Trust the FDA?

Although the FDA is currently investigating claims that Pradaxa has caused serious bleeding, the agency maintains that "[a]t this time, FDA continues to believe that Pradaxa provides an important health benefit when used as directed and recommends that healthcare professionals who prescribe Pradaxa follow the recommendations in the approved drug label.”

The FDA has made statements like this before for drugs that were later proven to indeed be very dangerous.  Patients taking Avandia, for example, reported adverse events like heart attacks.  The FDA had approved Avandia in 1999 simply because it helped diabetics to control blood sugar levels.  But after nearly 47,000 people taking Avandia suffered a heart attack, stroke, or even death, the FDA finally restricted the use of the drug in 2010.

More recently, the FDA has received criticism for allowing experts with conflicts of interest to sit on a panel to determine whether the popular birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin should be taken off the market.  At least four of the experts on the panel had received compensation from Yaz and Yasmin’s manufacturer Bayer.  All of them voted in favor of keeping the pills on the market.

And it seems as though the FDA may be behind the curve on Pradaxa. Both Japan and Australia have issued safety warnings, linking Pradaxa to serous bleeding events.

To learn more about the pharmaceutical industry and why the FDA approves these dangerous drugs, download my FREE e-book Prescription Drug Safety: 7 Secrets the Pharmaceutical Industry Does NOT Want You to Know at www.vanweylaw.com today.

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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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Looks like the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) will face pressure to take another vote on the popular birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin as reports surface that at least four of the experts had ties with manufacturer Bayer.

FDA experts met on December 8, 2011, to determine whether Yaz and Yasmin are safe for women to take.  The panel voted 15 to 11 to keep the pills on the market, citing that the benefits of the pills outweighed the risk of blood clots. 

Experts Received Money from Bayer

Dr. Julia Johnson, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, was one of the experts who served on the Yaz panel and had ties with Bayer.  Before 2009, Dr. Johnson was paid by Bayer for work she did for the company. 

Additionally, she conducted clinical trials for Berlex, a pharmaceutical company acquired by Bayer, studying the effects of Drospirenone.  Drospirenone is the synthetic hormone found in Yaz and Yasmin that health experts believe may be contributing to the increased risk of blood clots in women taking the drugs.  That clinical trial involved a hormone replacement therapy, not birth control, and Dr. Johnson has denied any bias for Bayer or its products.

Another expert on the panel who received funding from Bayer was Dr. Anne Burke.  On a Bayer internal document, Dr. Burke is listed as a Bayer contraception expert.  She received research funding from Bayer, but stated that this occurred several years ago.

Two other experts admitted to having either past financial ties or research ties with Bayer.

All four of the experts voted in favor of Yaz and Yasmin, noting that they believe the risk of blood clots associated with the birth control pills is outweighed by the benefits of the drugs.

One expert who was not allowed on the panel because of an “intellectual conflict of interest” was Dr. Sidney Wolfe of consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.  Because he has criticized Yaz as being an unsafe drug in the past, the FDA determined that Dr. Wolfe was too biased to serve on the panel.

This recent development raises the question: To whom is the FDA really catering--consumers or big pharmaceutical companies?  Based on the background of the Yaz  panel, it would seem that consumers are taking a backseat to pharmaceutical companies with money to hand out.

To learn more about how big pharma influences the FDA, download my free e-book Prescription Drug Safety at www.vanweylaw.com.

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