Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 As many as 60,000 Americans may have been killed by vioxx alone, according to figures from the FDA's own drug safety department. Likewise, an astounding 16,500 Americans are killed each year from gastrointestinal bleeding caused by over-the-counter pain medications. While the FDA consistently minimizes the dangers of drugs and seemingly does everything in its power to keep deadly drugs on the market, the legal system in this country is now showing it can fight back and begin to seek some small semblance of justice by holding drug companies financially accountable. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 REPPED: Interesting new research has been conducted on the health effects of fish oils and omega-3 fatty acids as alternative replacements for anti-inflammatory prescription drugs such as vioxx and Bextra. Many people don't realize that anti-inflammatory drugs harm more than 100,000 people in the United States each year and kill 20,000 each year. According to the FDA, vioxx alone is associated with heart attacks in more than 27,000 patients over the last several years. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 It's becoming clear now that some people at Merck were aware of the dangers of this drug, and yet they continued to push the drug anyway. vioxx was marketed as a safe drug and was ultimately taken by as many as 20 million Americans before finally being recalled.
I have called for a criminal investigation of Merck and key FDA decision makers because these actions are, in my opinion, worse than white-collar crimes like those committed by Enron executives. These crimes by pharmaceutical companies and FDA regulators result in the death and injury of American citizens. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 REPPED: Mike: We're here with Carol Simontacchi, author of "The Crazy Makers" and a new book entitled, "Natural Alternatives to vioxx, Celebrex and other Anti-Inflammatory Prescription Drugs." Thanks for sitting down with us for a few minutes, Carol.
Simontacchi: Thank you. It's a pleasure.
Mike: What gave you the motivation to write this book? Why do you think it's important for people to read?
Simontacchi: Well, over my professional lifetime, I have developed a huge amount of skepticism about the pharmaceutical industry. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Do you see people getting their money back for all the vioxx they purchased over the last few years? Of course not.
I find this to be a curious double standard. If we are going to pursue honesty in wellness and health, shouldn't honesty apply to everyone offering health-related products and services? Shouldn't surgeons have to abide by the same rules of honesty? Shouldn't pharmaceutical companies have to pay money back to patients who don't benefit from those pharmaceuticals? And even more, shouldn't they reimburse patients for damage caused by those pharmaceuticals? |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 The way vioxx and many of these anti-inflammatory products work is they prevent the formation of inflammatory compounds from essential fatty acids. So by stabilizing the cell membranes, I think Celadrin is able to accomplish the same result without side effects. And like the glucosamine sulfate and MSM, there is some good documentation showing Celadrin to be both safe and effective in the treatment of osteoarthritis. And it's likely that Celadrin has many other applications because of this unique anti-inflammatory effect.
Mike: And it has been shown to be effective topically?
Dr. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 There was a war within the FDA between the scientists who recognized the clear health risks of drugs like Prozac and vioxx, vs. the top administrators who wanted to keep pushing drugs to the public regardless of their health risk. As Dr. David Graham explained, "the review and clearance process had been turned into a battleground, full of contention and intimidation because our managers, the people who fill out our performance evaluations, had created a system where it was taking a great risk to stand firm in our scientific beliefs. |
Craig Pepin-Donat
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 On November 18, 2004, Graham testified before the Senate Finance Committee regarding the vioxx recall issue and the FDA approval process. I have read almost every media publication on the vioxx issue, but not until I read his complete testimony did I realize the extent to which there is a major problem with the drug approval process within the FDA. By testifying, Graham placed himself at risk of being ostracized by the FDA community. He ignored that risk and instead had the courage to come forward in the public interest to try to effect positive change in the drug approval process. |
Too Profitable to CureBrent Hoadley, Ph.D.
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| David Graham, associate director for science in the FDA, was quoted as saying he faced stiff resistance to reporting his findings regarding the increased dangers of heart disease and stroke associated with vioxx.
Would it surprise you to know Merck (manufacturer of vioxx) spent more in 2002 and the first six months of 2003 for lobbying than 11 others in the Dirty Dozen? ("The Dirty Dozen" —12 major drug companies and the obscene amounts spent on lobbying in 2002 and first half of 2003 show in Table 1 below). |
Bottom Line Health
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| For example, before rofecoxib (Vioxx) was withdrawn from the market because it was found to cause heart attacks and strokes (and did not provide better relief of arthritis symptoms than older, much less expensive anti-inflammatory drugs), approximately 80% of the vioxx that was prescribed worldwide was used in the US.
•Are doctors to blame? The vast majority of physicians prescribe medication because they think it's in their patients' best interest. But there have been radical changes in the way that our medical knowledge is provided. |
Dr. Abram Hoffer, MD, FRCP (C) and Dr. Harold D. Foster, PhD
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 Food and Drug
Administration voted to allow the possible return of vioxx, provided it carried a striking black-box warning on its label about its cardiovascular risks. Patients who take it will be obliged to sign consent forms.
Interestingly, the Globe and Mail reported that 10 of the 32 members of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel voting to allow the return of vioxx had worked as consultants, in recent years, for the drug's makers. |
| In October 2004, vioxx, one of the main drugs used to treat arthritis, was voluntarily withdrawn by its manufacturers, Merck and Co. Some 70,000 deaths, largely from cardiovascular episodes, had been associated with this drug's use. Such toxic side effects had been known by the industry for several years. In February 2005, a panel of the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration voted to allow the possible return of vioxx, provided it carried a striking black-box warning on its label about its cardiovascular risks. Patients who take it will be obliged to sign consent forms. |
| Abraham C. vioxx makers 'perplexed' by Dosanjh's remarks. Today's Paper Health. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050226/ Vioxx26/TPHealth/
ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND SENILITY
Prevalence
As Dr Foster has described in his book, What Really Causes Alzheimer's Disease, this illness is increasing because life expectancies have risen significcantly during the past century. |
Bottom Line Health
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| Devil's Claw Relieves Back Pain
Back pain can be relieved by using the herb devil's claw* A recent meta-analysis of 12 previous studies found that a daily dose of 60 milligrams (mg) of harpagosides, which are in devil's claw, is as effective in treating low-back pain as a standard dose of the prescription drug vioxx. vioxx was pulled off the market because it was linked to heart problems.
Caution: Do not take devil's claw if you are taking blood thinners or have any clotting disorders.
Joel J. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| Tell people what you know about Merck, vioxx and the FDA, and encourage people to join the lawsuit effort against this pharmaceutical giant. Here's the URL to give people who want to read this article:
http://www.newstarget.com/002155.html
Let's make this the mostly costly lawsuit in the history of medicine. Let's bankrupt Merck and thereby protect Americans from the company's future drugs, which will no doubt have even more dangerous side effects. It's time to put this evil empire out of business for the good of all mankind. |
| So if you've taken vioxx and want to join what could become a multi-billion-dollar settlement against Merck, contact us at feedback48@newstarget.com and include your name and address. We'll forward your information to a legal team who will take it from there. (We're doing this at no charge, and without any financial compensation of any kind.)
Or, you can search on Google or some other search engine and find a legal team yourself. Whatever you do, don't sit back. |
| And I'm outraged by a national media that's so tied to drug company advertising revenues that we'll probably never be able to repeal direct-to-consumer advertising (which is partly responsible for this vioxx mess).
It's time for serious action. It's time to go after these criminal pharmaceutical executives and charge them with the crimes they have committed against humanity. It's time to hit these companies where it hurts: right in the pocketbook. It's time to put Merck and its competition out of business for good... |
| Scolnick, Merck's research chief, during the development of vioxx reveals that even though the drug was known to be dangerous, it was bound to be a great seller just like the company's other drugs which, he admitted, are also dangerous: "We have a great drug and like angioedema with vasotec and seizures with primaxin and myopathy with mevacor there is always a hazard. The class will do well and so will we. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 For relief from the pain, many reach for remedies like the prescription drugs in the category known as COX-2 inhibitors (Celebrex and vioxx are famous examples), or pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Aleve). These drugs do offer immediate relief, but they're hardly without problems (witness the class-action suits over vioxx). O
Keep in mind that none of them address 03 the underlying cause of the joint pa.n. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| The primary purpose of the document was to convince doctors to keep prescribing vioxx, even while evidence of the drug's dangers mounted.
Classic Big Pharma behavior
What does all this add up to? It's Big Pharma as usual, folks: distorted clinical studies, lying to consumers, threatening critics, burying negative evidence and all the while heavily promoting the drug to physicians and consumers. This is exactly what I've been talking about all along. |
| Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet (one of the most respected journals in the world), says, "the licensing of vioxx and its continued use in the face of unambiguous evidence of harm have been public health catastrophes. This controversy will not end with the drug's withdrawal. Merck's likely litigation bill is put at between $10bn and $15bn. The company has seen its revenues and its capitalization slashed. It has been financially disabled and its reputation lies in ruins. It is not at all clear that Merck will survive this growing scandal. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| Anne Trontell, one such supervisor, called the studies showing heart damage from vioxx, "nothing more than a scientific rumor." That's how the FDA and people in the medical community shut down critics: they just declare anything they don't like to be "unscientific."
The FDA censors its own scientists
Another FDA researcher, Dr. Andrew Mosholder, was censored and not allowed to testify in February, 2004 about his study that found antidepressants increase the risk of suicides in children. |
| In other words, Merck and the FDA were playing the classic "cover your ass" game in trying to hide the destructive health consequences of vioxx from the public for as long as possible. And they managed to pull it off for four years thanks to the gullibility of conventional doctors and the ignorance of the American public, who continue to believe in prescription drugs as "miracle cures" for just about every symptom or disease, even though the facts reveal that prescription drugs heal no one. More often than not, they actually kill people.
The FDA, godfather of the U.S. |
| Well, folks, the scandal is here, and the FDA is now under intense fire by the international medical community for its role in covering up the truth about vioxx for four years.
Perhaps the most relevant criticism of the agency comes from Dr. Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, a well respected medical journal. After reading the Merck insider emails published in the Wall Street Journal showing how Merck sought to distort drug trials to hide evidence of heart disease, and after reviewing the same clinical trials on the drug that the FDA reviewed before approving it, Dr. |
Hyla Cass
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 Let's use the drug vioxx as an example. You might know that this antiinflammatory pain medicine was removed from the market in 2004 because studies found an unacceptable increase in risk of heart problems. In its short lifetime as a blockbuster drug, it's believed that some 20 million Americans used it at some point to treat pain, usually from arthritis. A one percent increase in risk for heart attack and stroke in users of this medicine led safety officials at the FDA to calculate that about 55,000 people may have died from heart attacks and strokes as a direct result of their use of vioxx. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| According to the FDA, vioxx alone is associated with heart attacks in more than 27,000 patients over the last several years.
But new medical research is showing that fish oils and omega-3 fatty acids may be just as effective as anti-inflammatory drugs without any of the negative side effects. In this particular study, more than two thirds of study participants were able to stop using anti-inflammatory drugs and, instead, switch to fish oils and omega-3 fatty acids. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 We've seen that with products like vioxx, which has now been estimated to have caused up to 140,000 heart attacks, with an estimated 44% fatality rate (source: The Lancet, January 2005). Do the math: it comes out to 61,600 people potentially being killed by this prescription drug. And the news headlines are concerned about a few imported products from India? Get real. Get some perspective. vioxx even dwarfs the 9/11 fatalities. vioxx makes terrorists look like girl scouts. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 David Graham, senior drug safety researcher at the FDA, (and vioxx whistleblower) testified before the Committee that the FDA was "incapable of protecting America from unsafe drugs or from another vioxx." In an interview with Manette Loudon, lead investigator for Dr. Gary Null, Dr. Graham said that since his testimony before the Committee, "...very little has changed on the surface [of the FDA] and substantively nothing has changed. |
| Back in late 2004, when news of the damages caused by the drug-safety catastrophe known as vioxx was just beginning to reach the public, Grassley led a Senate Committee on Finance hearing, calling into question the FDA's role in the Merck/Vioxx fiasco.
In his opening statement for that hearing, Grassley said, "One of my concerns is that the FDA has a relationship with drug companies which is too cozy. That's exactly the opposite of what it should be. The health and safety of the public must be the FDA's first and only concern. |
| Merck withdrew vioxx from the worldwide market) makes people wonder if the FDA has lost its way when it comes to making sure drugs are safe ... The bottom line is consumers should not have to second guess the safety of what's in their medicine cabinets. The public should feel confident that when the FDA approves a drug, you can bank on it being safe, and if a drug isn't safe, the FDA will take it off the market."
Vioxx whistleblower Dr. Graham says the FDA not only doesn't protect consumer interests, but cannot
During Grassley's November hearing, Dr. |
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