Repost: Watchdog Group: Avoid 181 Prescription Drugs

[Guest guest]

>

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

>

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

>

> Watchdog Group: Avoid 181 Prescription Drugs

>

> 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.

>

> 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.

>

> 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. "

>

>

>

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> 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.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

sheeesh - that is scary - io take yasmin.... I guess no more!!!

shari