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Watchdog Group: Avoid 181 Prescription Drugs

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>> http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/99/105189.htm

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>> Watchdog Group: Avoid 181 Prescription Drugs

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>> Public Citizen Cites Poor Safety, Safer Alternatives

>> for Most

>>

>> By Todd Zwillich

>> WebMD Medical News

>> Reviewed By , MD

>> on Wednesday, January 12, 2005

>>

>>

>> Jan. 12, 2005 - There are 181 popular prescription

>> drugs on a " Do Not Use " list issued by the watchdog

>> group Public Citizen on Wednesday.

>>

>> The drugs, including the cholesterol-lowering drug

>> Crestor, the birth control pill Yasmin, and

>> controversial pain relievers Celebrex and Bextra, are

>> condemned by the group because their potentially

>> dangerous side effects far outweigh their benefits or

>> because there are safer alternatives that work just as

>> well, says Sidney Wolfe, MD, director of the Public

>> Citizen Health Research Group.

>>

>> The group is a longtime critic of the U.S. drug

>> industry and a watchdog over the FDA. The agency has

>> largely failed to adequately police the safety of new

>> drugs coming on the market or to track potential

>> dangers once they are already on sale, Public Citizen

>> contends.

>>

>> " This is a massive public health problem, " Wolfe says.

>>

>>

>> Wolfe says the list, contained in a larger volume of

>> consumer-oriented information on 536 drugs called

>> Worst Pills, Best Pills, is necessary because the FDA

>> has been slow to take action against potentially

>> dangerous medications.

>>

>> " We asked FDA four years ago to put a black box

>> warning on Vioxx and Celebrex, but they didn't do it, "

>> says Wolfe, referring to two popular arthritis drugs

>> that have come under intense scrutiny because of

>> evidence that they increase the risk of heart attack.

>> Vioxx was pulled from the worldwide market by

>> manufacturer Merck & Co. in September, and last month

>> the National Institutes of Health halted a trial of

>> Pfizer's Celebrex because of similar concerns.

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>> Risks associated with Celebrex have only been seen at

>> high doses of the medication - 400 mg a day. Heart

>> problems with Bextra have only been seen in patients

>> undergoing heart bypass surgery.

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>> Nearly 100,000 Americans die each year because of

>> adverse drug reactions, Wolfe says. That number was

>> quoted in a 1998 University of Toronto study

>> estimating that 106,000 people died in U.S. hospitals

>> in 1994 because of drug reactions.

>>

>> The list warns against using Crestor, a

>> cholesterol-lowering statin, because of what Public

>> Citizen says is an increased risk of the muscle

>> disorder rhabdomyolysis. Women should avoid using the

>> contraceptive pill Yasmin, it says, because it can

>> cause elevations in blood potassium while offering no

>> advantage over other birth control pills. If severe,

>> high potassium levels can cause heart rhythm problems.

>>

>>

>> Wolfe says the list was not intended to scare

>> consumers away from using prescription medications,

>> but to help them cut through what Public Citizen sees

>> as misleading drug industry ads directed at patients

>> and doctors.

>>

>> " There are people, organizations, that think all

>> prescription drugs are terrible. We are not one of

>> them, " he says.

>>

>> Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical

>> Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug

>> industry's largest lobbying group, calls the book

>> " another source of information " for consumers and

>> doctors to use.

>>

>> Trewhitt declined to comment on individual drugs but

>> says fewer than 3% of all pharmaceutical products

>> approved by the FDA have been pulled off the market

>> because of safety problems. He adds that patients

>> should not stop taking a drug without first checking

>> with their doctor.

>>

>> " There may be some room for improvement " in the FDA's

>> regulation of drug safety, Trewhitt says. " But we

>> believe the FDA has struck exactly the right approach

>> to the risk-benefit interpretation. "

>>

>>

>> -------------------------------------------------------

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>> SOURCES: Wolfe, S. Worst Pills, Best Pills: A

>> Consumer's Guide to Avoiding Drug-Induced Death or

>> Illness, Pocket Books, Jan. 4, 2005. Sidney Wolfe, MD,

>> director, Public Citizen's Health Research Group. Jeff

>> Trewhitt, spokesman, Pharmaceutical Research and

>> Manufacturers of America.

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>>

>>

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>> Opinions expressed are NOT meant to take the place of advice given by

>> licensed health care professionals. Consult your physician or licensed

>> health care professional before commencing any medical treatment.

>>

>> " Do not let either the medical authorities or the politicians mislead

>> you. Find out what the facts are, and make your own decisions about how

>> to live a happy life and how to work for a better world. " - Linus

>> ing, two-time Nobel Prize Winner (1954, Chemistry; 1963, Peace)

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