WHAT DOCTORS DON'T TELL YOU

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News content

 

 

· A TYPICAL DECEPTION: New antipsychotics are more expensive,

but no more effective

· BEAUTY THERAPY: Dying to look young

· BAD HANDWRITING: It costs sales to the drug companies

· MERCURY: You can get a lifetime's worth in Chicago's sushi

bars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A TYPICAL DECEPTION: New antipsychotics are more expensive, but no

more effective

 

 

Have the US and UK health authorities been conned yet again by the

promise of a `new generation' of better and more effective drugs?

 

Atypical antipsychotics – designed to treat schizophrenia and bipolar

disorder – were introduced in 1990, and were heralded by the drug

companies as being more effective and safer than the standard

antipsychotics.

 

As a result, drugs such as Seroquel, Zyprexa, Risperdal and Geodon

have become the first-line treatment for many psychotic disorders,

generating around $10.5 billion a year in sales for the manufacturers.

 

But a major study – the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention

Effectiveness (CATIE) – has discovered that the atypicals are no more

effective than the older antipsychotics, and they cost around 30 per

cent more.

 

And they are certainly not safer drugs. So far Eli Lilly, the maker

of Zyprexa, has signed a settlement of $690 million that is being

paid to 8,000 plaintiffs who have claimed the drug has caused their

diabetes.

 

So how did they get approval in the first place? There are stories

swirling around that government officials in the USA received a pay-

off from the manufacturers, and that safety records were suppressed.

 

What we do know for sure is that the drug companies have been the

only winners in a gambit that has brought in more than $100bn in

sales of the atypicals.

 

(Source: American Journal of Psychiatry, 2006; 163: 2080-9).

 

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BEAUTY THERAPY: Dying to look young

 

 

All is not well in the beauty business. Beauticians and cosmetic

surgeons mess about with the bacterium that causes botulism in order

to reduce clients' wrinkles and give them that much sought-after

stretched look.

 

This is one of the few happy by-products of the Clostridium botulinum

bacterium. Aside from getting rid of wrinkles, it can also cause a

paralytic disease that may result in respiratory failure and death.

 

So it's not especially surprising to learn that sometimes it all goes

terribly wrong. Investigators followed the trail to one beauty

parlour after four of its clients were diagnosed with botulism. The

beautician had mixed his own concoction of botulism toxin A, the only

licensed preparation of the toxin. Unfortunately, he decided to give

it a little extra oomph, and the dose he created for those pesky

wrinkles was up to 2,857 times the lethal dose. Had a single vial

escaped into the community, it would have killed around 14,286 adults.

 

Extraordinarily, the four patients survived, and the doctor spent

five months in an oxygen tent. After he recovered, he was sentenced

to three years' imprisonment.

 

(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2006; 296:

2476-9).

 

 

 

 

 

BAD HANDWRITING: It costs sales to the drug companies

 

 

Drug companies spend millions, and perhaps billions, of pounds and

dollars on convincing doctors to prescribe their drugs. So nothing

could be more galling after you've spent all that money convincing

the doctor – and then his handwriting is so bad that a different drug

is handed out.

 

This has been troubling drug giant Eli Lilly so much that it has

taken out a full-page advertisement in the Journal of The American

Medical Association – at a cost of $15,000 – that asks doctors to

write out prescriptions in capital letters.

 

Eli Lilly has been missing out on quite a few sales of its anti-

psychotic drug Zyprexa. Because doctors are trained to write very

badly, patients are instead walking off with Zyrtec, a drug to treat

allergies that's manufactured by UCB.

 

Of course, Eli Lilly's main concern is for the " millions of patients

and their families who are counting on you " (that is, the doctor).

Lost sales? Well, there is that we suppose, but it's the millions of

patients we're concerned about here.

 

(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2006; 296:

2562).

 

 

 

 

 

MERCURY: You can get a lifetime's worth in Chicago's sushi bars

 

 

If you ever happen to be in Chicago, don't touch the tuna at the

sushi bars (and where else would you read such vital travel

information?). It's so full of mercury that one serving is as much

as a woman or child should be exposed to in a month.

 

And one serving in seven has such high mercury content that a woman

or child should never eat it.

 

The problem came to light when the Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency tested tuna samples from 20 sushi bars in Chicago. They found

that 14 – or 70 per cent – had unacceptably high levels of mercury.

 

Illinois is thought to be particularly bad for mercury levels because

of the coal-burning power plants in the state, and the improper

disposal of waste that contains mercury.

 

Women who are pregnant, thinking of becoming pregnant or who are

breastfeeding are especially warned off the tuna. And it's reckoned

that 100,000 Illinois women have blood-mercury levels high enough to

cause development problems in their unborn babies.

 

Mercury is a potent neuro-toxin that can affect the fetus and the

development of young children and their ability to learn. Higher

levels also increase the risk of heart attack in adults.

 

So guess what they put in our teeth cavities? I tell you, eat a tuna

sandwich after having a tooth filled and people will think you've

been nobbled by a Russian secret agent.

 

(Source: Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, 2006; 281: 23-4).

 

 

 

 

 

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