When the cure is worse than the disease
Do pharmaceutical companies have the best health interests of their customers in mind when they test newly-developed drugs? I’ll give you the details surrounding a recently reported trial, and let you be the judge. But I’ll admit right now that this is not a fair case because the details are almost too amazing to be true.
A report from WebMD tells us that rheumatoid arthritis sufferers are normally prescribed a generic drug called methotrexate. Now a new study shows that they can safely add another drug to increase their pain relief.
But what “safe” means to Aventis Pharmaceuticals (the maker of this new drug called Arava) might be quite a bit different than what “safe” means to someone who’s actually going to use the medication.
About 90% of the test subjects who were taking Arava reported side effects, including nausea, dizziness, hair loss, rash, headache, and respiratory tract infections. In addition, 25% of these subjects also experienced diarrhea.
Does that sound “safe”? Not very. Especially when you add “liver damage” to that list. Apparently, patients who take methotrexate require regular liver enzyme tests to monitor for liver damage.
Still, the lead researcher of the study, Joel M. Kremer, M.D., maintains that Arava offers a “logical alternative” for those who don’t get enough relief from methotrexate alone.
But what “logical” means to Dr. Kremer might be far different than what “logical” means to someone who doesn’t really want to get dizzy while losing their hair during frequent trips to the bathroom.
The kicker to all of this is the transparent connection between Aventis and the research team. Aventis funded the study. That’s not remarkable – drug companies frequently fund research to promote FDA approval of their products. But as an extra, added bonus, one of the authors of the study is also an employee of Aventis. And she owns stock in the company. Nice.
Safe? Logical? As I said – I’ll let you make the call.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful and debilitating disease. I wouldn’t deny anyone their right to relief if they can get it through the mix of these two drugs. But like the disease itself, this is a cure I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute
