"Health Food" for thought...

A Courtesy of Healing Touch Chiropractic and Dr. Gary L. Easter
October 8th, 2004
 

 
$30 Billion Vioxx Recall -- The Dangers, Powerful Lessons & Safe Alternatives that Everyone Must Know

In a move that surprised and shook up many people - from patients to stock analysts -- Merck & Co. announced the withdrawal of the popular anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx from the market late last week due to a study that shows patients taking the drug face twice the risk of heart attack compared to those taking a placebo, especially those who had been taking the drug longer than 18 months.

Still, the Vioxx example raises concerns about FDA's review process along with how long it took Merck to remove the drug from the market. Vioxx is the first prescription drug to be pulled from pharmacy shelves in three years for safety concerns. A FDA spokeswoman says the agency has been pressured from all sides - medicine, industry and consumers - to approve new drugs more quickly or slowly depending on the demand or risk.

Another major concern: A Wake Forest professor who has researched clinical trials for three decades points out more than half of all drugs introduced in the market have a new side effect after their approval with the current system. In a related issue, medical experts are finding older, proven pharmaceuticals have become far more deadly when combined with newer drugs.

These issues point to a gap in FDA regulations to fail to assess the safety of pharmaceuticals after their approval. Although the federal agency received some 2,400 agreements these after-the-fact studies, less than 900 were actually conducted, according to a 2002 FDA report.

Some believe longer clinical trials could be the solution to the problem. For example, the increased risk of heart attacks and strokes among Vioxx users didn't happen until they took the drug for 18 months. In fact, the Center for Drug Evaluations and Research says FDA will move in that direction for comparable drugs those that may be approved down the road.

The news also hit Merck hard on the Dow Jones Industrial Exchange. Shares of Merck & Co. lost more than a quarter of their value last Thursday after the company pulled Vioxx from the market, plunging 26.8 percent to close at $33. Stock prices have bounced back a dollar about $33.50 a share as of late yesterday.

In the meantime, a tidal wave of lawsuits have hit the courts in the United States, Canada and as far away as Israel. One lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court alleges Merck knew about Vioxx's harmful side effects at least since the drug had been formally approved. Merck, argued one attorney, "intentionally tried to downplay the risks" until the evidence "was so overwhelming they had no choice."

The lawsuit could do serious harm to the company: Vioxx currently has 2 million users worldwide and some 84 million people have taken the drug since its approval by the FDA in 1999.

In reaction to the withdrawal of Vioxx, Pfizer Inc. has informing wholesalers, pharmacy chains, pharmacy benefit managers and other managed care organizations that they will manufacture enough Celebrex, their Cox-2 inhibitor, to meet the patient demand. The company also cited three long-term studies of Celebrex that showed the drug does not have any significant safety issues.
 

Wired October 3, 2004

Senior Journal.com September 30, 2004

Laughter Therapy
 
(I just know I'm going to get some hate mail replies on these but they were so funny I couldn't pass them up :)

Here are the 10 first place winners in the International Pun Contest.

1. Two vultures board an airplane, each carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at them and says, "I`m sorry, gentlemen, only one carrion per passenger."

2. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says "Dam!".

3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can`t have your kayak and heat it too.

4. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says "I`ve lost my electron." The other says "Are you sure?" The first replies "Yes, I`m positive."

5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?" they asked, as they moved off. "Because," he said, "I can`t stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

7. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain ; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They`re twins! If you`ve seen Juan, you`ve seen Ahmal."

8. Two friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town, to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he`d be back if they didn`t close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

9.  Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail, and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him...[Oh, man, how bad is this one?!!]...a super callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

10.  And finally, there was the person who sent ten different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh.

No pun in ten did!