This New England

Conflict of interest to the Nth power.

Astra-Zenecar, the maker of the statin drug Crestor, paid for a study hyping the very expensive, high-profit-margin drug (which has severe side-effects in some people). Findings appear in the (gullible?) New England Journal of Medicine.

The lead author of the study, Paul Ridker, a relentless businessman as well as physician, holds the patent on a lucrative medical test that would be very widely used if this drug takes off as much as the maker hopes. Already loaded, he'll make piles more.

The swelling problem of conflicts of interest in pharmaceutical development and marketing is a health problem in itself, as well as a major cause of spiraling health costs.

And the initial hype and lack of skepticism about this study may reflect the decline in the number of rigorous medical journalists -- and of rigorous journalists in general. Many of them of course have been laid off.

 Tags  conflict of interest Crestor medical journalists Paul Ridker

Comments

jeffrey dach md said:

It appears that journalists have a short memory.

Only four year ago, Dr. David Graham, associate director in the FDA's Office of Drug Safety gave senate testimony that Crestor was one of five drugs with safety concerns. The drug causes muscle breakdown and renal failure.

Surprisingly, the Jupiter study declared there were no adverse side effects from Crestor. Or at least the adverse effects in the drug group was the same as the placebo group. This is hard to believe since the FDA has issued two advisory warnings about the adverse side effects of Crestor, and a public interest group represented by Sidney Wolfe (Public Citizen) petitioned the FDA to have Crestor banned because of side effects. In addition, Crestor is one of the strongest statins and has the worst adverse effect profile.

To read more...

http://jeffreydach.com/2008/11/14/crestor-jupitor-crp-and-heart-attack--by-jefffrey-dach-md.aspx

Link | December 7, 2008 6:15 PM
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