Prozac: Three Blind Mice

Three blind mice, three blind mice,

See how they run, see how they run,

They all ran after the farmer's wife,

Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,

Did you ever see such a thing in your life,

As three blind mice?

Most believe the author of Three Blind Mice was a teenager named Thomas Ravenscroft. The origin of the words, according to many historians, stem from Queen Mary I and her staunch Catholic beliefs. due to her violent persecution of Protestants, she was known as 'Bloody Mary'. The reference to 'farmer's wife' in Three Blind Mice refers to the huge estates she possessed. The 'three blind mice' were three Protestants convicted of plotting against Queen Mary I.  She did not have them dismembered and blinded as inferred in Three Blind Mice, she had them burnt at the stake! 

Ah, don't you just love the morals and ethics of religion! Even today we still see people being killed in the name of something that cannot be seen or heard. History shows that religious books have been responsible for many deaths, or rather the way religious scriptures are been interpreted. The Three Blind Mice rhyme has similarities to a recent study in Japan.

The study, sponsored in part by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., involved mice pups bred to mimic the distinctive behaviors and brain abnormalities seen in autism. After inducing autistic traits, the mice were fed Prozac. The authors claim Prozac caused dramatic improvements in the animal's social interactions and communication patterns. The Prozac, which was administered through the mother’s milk for 19 days. Furthermore, according to the study, "newborn mice got a daily injection of Prozac in their first six days of life, the treatment appeared to restore normal vocalization patterns and reduce anxiety-like behaviors well into adulthood."

The study is littered with assumptions and seems to promote a chemical imbalance theory that both humans and mice allegedly have. The study doesn't seem to explain what was done to impair the animal's brain function. What it does claim is that Prozac improved the brain damage the researchers caused. 

It claims to show that Prozac cleared whatever was induced in the mice so, in essence, this could just possibly be one drug counteracting another drug.

The spin in this study is obvious. The authors have induced a series of brain abnormalities in mice pups then made claims that these abnormalities are almost identical to the abnormalities found in people with autism.

Here's the irony: Toxic exposures during pregnancy, such as the use of antidepressants, can disrupt brain processes before birth and shortly afterward. So, if antidepressants can disrupt the brain process before and after birth, why not treat that with, um, another antidepressant!

It must have been a slow news day at the Los Angeles Times whose health corespondent, Melissa Healy, ran with the study. Her article is littered with assumptions. She claims Prozac, "is thought to elevate mood and quell anxiety by increasing the availability of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the spaces between certain types of brain cells." I suspect her article is mainly a reprinted press release.

The key word here is "thought." Anything that follows it can, and should, be taken with a pinch of salt. It's clever marketing because our eyes are drawn to the science when, in actual fact, there is no science, it's just supposition.

Furthermore, the jounalist states, "Research on humans suggests that, during early brain development, those who will go on to develop autism have unusually low levels of serotonin in critical areas of the brain."

Now, here's a game for you all. What is the keyword in the above sentence?

Answers in the comments section or on my Facebook page please.

Science is an intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. This Japanese study has done none of that.

Don't you just love the morals and ethics of clinical trials and unscientific journalsm reporting!

Full study here.

LA Times article here.

Bob Fiddaman

Actos With SSRi - Complete Madness!

An article appeared in yesterday's Daily Mail highlighted a published paper that suggested taking Pioglitazone [Actos] in conjunction with SSRi's could boost the effect of the antidepressant.

SSRi's, such as Seroxat, Cipramil, Prozac!

The study, published in Neuropsychopharmacology, an international scientific journal, is yet another example of poor research skills by the authors of the paper and by the journal itself.

Actos, manufactured by Japanese company, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, has recently hit the headlines in the US for causing bladder cancer in patients. Many lawsuits have been filed, not to mention the lives that have been damaged by the prolonged use of this particular diabetes medication.

As for SSRi medication, well we all know how dangerous they can be and we all know how the UK regulator likes to play down those dangers such as suicide, akathesia, homicidal thoughts and horrendous withdrawal problems.

When studies, such as the one in Neuropsychopharmacology appear, it would be of huge benefit if the UK regulator, the MHRA, actually wrote to the authors or the journal to warn them of the bladder cancer risk with Actos. A 2011 warning on their website does not cover them in garlands neither does it alter the fact that they are responsible for safeguarding human health, a line that they proudly boast at every given opportunity.

I'd write to them if I thought it would make a blind bit of difference but to be honest I'm sick and tired of their worn out phrase that the 'benefits outweigh the risks'.

No doubt doctor's up and down the country will have been told that Actos is not recommended...but they can still prescribe it if they believe the benefits outweigh the risk.

To even suggest that it could be useful if used in conjunction with SSRi's will have tapped into the psyche of those that read it. There are still doctor's that won't know about the Actos bladder cancer link and I know for a fact that there are still doctors who utterly refute any suicide link with antidepressants, they are normally the ones who like to think that the patient is never right.

The editors at Neuropsychopharmacology should, at the very least, add a warning to the recent paper, particularly when the risk of bladder cancer is 40 percent greater in patients taking Actos for longer than one year.

More about Actos and the bladder cancer link HERE





Fid


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Takeda Whistleblower

I'm loving all these whistleblower suits. Last year Cheryl Eckard blew the lid on GlaxoSmithKline's factory in Peurto Rico. A combination of poor quality pills, contamination and alleged black market selling of drugs from the plant saw Glaxo pay out a hefty fine. Eckard was earlier fired from her position after she brought it to the attention of her seniors that the Peurto Rican plant was in an appalling state.

Last week Allen Jones, another whistleblower, was vindicated for blowing the whistle on Johnson & Johnson. He learned that they were using underhand tactics to market their drug risperdal to children. A secret bank account was found by Jones that led him to the fraud. Like Eckard he too was fired from his position after he brought it to the attention of his peers.

Now we have a new whistleblower case set to hit the headlines.

Helen Ge was a former contractor at Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. She learned that Takeda have been playing down risks of three of their drugs, particularly when combined with other drugs. Again, she was fired from her position when she brought this to the attention of her seniors, alleges the lawsuit filed by Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman PC and Ashcroft Sullivan LLC

The complaint alleges that Takeda knowingly steered doctors away from prescribing cheaper generics of Uloric, Prevacid and Dexilant, and also failed to report adverse events to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“Takeda disregarded its duty to deal honestly with the government and with knowledge that its concealment and intentional misrepresentations would result in hundreds of millions, and perhaps billions of dollars in damage to government health care programs,” alleges the complaint.

What's startling about this particular whistleblower suit is that it appears that the elderly were at risk from Takeda's concealment, many elderly patients used Takeda's medication/s in combination with other drugs, drugs that Takeda allegedly knew could cause them serious problems and in some cases death.

This will be an interesting case to follow, particularly as Takeda are already under scrutiny for failing to warn patients taking their diabetes medication, Actos. A suit was filed in December last year that alleges Actos causes bladder cancer, the suit also makes claim to negligence, failure to warn, defective design and deceit by concealment.

More and more whistleblowers are coming forward it seems, which can only be good news for those of us that have been banging the drum loudly about the fraud that exists in Big Pharma.

Full complaint can be read HERE

  



Fid


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Q: Is It Safe To Take Actos? A: "Talk To Your Doctor"

With the MHRA recently rolling out their SSRi Learning Module [Links at bottom of post] and once again buck-passing the emphasis of safety onto healthcare professionals and pretend "specialists" it got me thinking why the MHRA would do something like this.

They refuse to debate with me any more about the fake specialists they conjured out of thin air so, once again, they wish to play by their rules. Sorry guys, that just does not happen in my world.

In the news recently is the Diabetes type 2 drug, Actos.

Actos is manufactured by Japanese pharmaceutical giants Takeda Pharmaceuticals and was seen as a direct competitor to GlaxoSmithKline's diabetes drug Avandia.

Avandia was shelved after it was learned that patients taking it increased their chances of having a stroke and heart attacks. This was known for some time but nobody did anything about it. GlaxoSmithKline, after years of denial, eventually paid out settlements to those harmed by Avandia.

Actos has been reviewed by the European Medicines Agency [EMA]. After reviewing recent data as well as old data they found that there is an increased risk of bladder cancer in patients who take the drug longer than a year.

How do the MHRA respond to the findings?

Advice for patients Patients should not stop taking pioglitazone without consulting their doctor. Patients receiving pioglitazone should immediately report any visible blood in their urine or bladder problems such as pain while urinating or urgency to urinate, to their doctor. Patients receiving pioglitazone will have their treatments evaluated by their doctor at their next scheduled appointment. [LINK]

Were British doctor's privy to the investigation carried out by the EMA? Nup.

Of course, many British healthcare professionals will play down the bladder cancer risk in Actos because they won't want to alarm those patients already on it. Well, they need to and the MHRA should make sure that they do and not just send out warnings, many of which will probably find the bin in the doctor's office.

It's not enough to send out a warning letter. They should be warning the patients taking it and not those prescribing it. A full-page advertisement in the mainstream media papers and a series of radio and TV commercials warning of the dangers would be a start. Alas, the MHRA much prefer to campaign about buying fake drugs over the Internet. A series of cinema and TV commercials saw them team up with pharma giants Pfizer to promote that particular safety issue - so why not do the same with Actos?

MHRA's Promotional Push About Fake Drugs - Made in Conjunction With Pfizer

I'd want to know if the drug I was taking could cause me bladder cancer, I wouldn't want to wait for a doctor to tell me. Although it would come as a complete shock to read about it in a full page advert or see it on TV, it would, at the very least give me the choice to stop taking it. In all honesty I'd sooner pull a rat out of my mouth then be told news that the prescribed medicine I was taking had caused my bladder cancer!

At the start of the year California lawyers Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, P.C filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles on behalf of three couples whose lives have been turned upside down due to taking a drug that should have made their lives more comfortable.

The 12 point cause of actions include failure to warn, defective design and civil code violations. It's also alleged that Takeda Pharmaceuticals knew about the bladder cancer risk but concealed that information from the public. I doubt if a lawsuit will be launched here in the UK, going up against the pharmaceutical industry here one has to overcome many hurdles.

The MHRA won't help if you have been harmed from a drug, in fact, they seem to do everything but help. The on-going Seroxat litigation here in the UK is evidence of that - one only has to look at GlaxoSmithKline's expert witnesses in that case, one being an ex-employee of the MHRA.

So folks, always remember to take your medication, if you feel that you are having trouble with it or that your bladder cancer, heart strokes or suicidal thoughts may be a result of the drug you are taking then you could always talk to your doctor about it. The very same doctor that prescribed it to you in the first place!

More about the Actos bladder cancer link HERE


Related:

MHRA To 'Re-educate' UK Doctor's on SSRi's Part I 


MHRA To 'Re-educate' UK Doctor's on SSRi's Part II "Keeping A Stiff Upper Lip" 


MHRA To 'Re-educate' UK Doctor's on SSRi's Part III - MHRA's Ghosts In The Machine


MHRA In Buck-Passing Specialist Cahoots


MHRA - More on the Mysterious "Ghost Specialists"


MHRA Wishing To Call The Shots


ORDER THE PAPERBACK 'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman US and CANADA HERE OR UK HERE


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Actos...No Better Than Avandia

Whilst browsing in a shop the other day I purchased a pair of shoes. The assistant asked me if I would like to purchase a leather care product - Good sales pitch. Obviously, I'd like my shoes the last a long time so purchasing a leather care product would benefit me...and my shoes.

When you or I visit our doctor's we are, occasionally, given bad news. "Mr Smith, I have some bad news for you, I'm afraid you have type 2 diabetes."

The initial shock of hearing such bad news is followed by, "but don't worry, it is treatable."

Years ago, and until recently, doctor's were handing out prescriptions for Avandia, a drug manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline which was recently pulled off the shelves after the European medicines regulator deemed it unsafe, they found that it caused strokes in many of those that were taking it. TheAmerican drugwatch agency, the FDA, didn't feel that it needed to be pulled off the market, opting instead for a more stern warning on the labelling. GlaxoSmithKline apparently knew of the heart stroke link...but decided not to tell anyone until they had made a pretty packet on sales of the drug.

Because Avandia was pulled off the market in Europe and because it received such bad press in America doctor's, naturally, started prescribing an alternative. Enter Actos, a drug manufactured by Japanese giants Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

News of Actos has been circulating recently, and it isn't good. Actos can cause bladder cancer and it's manufacturers knew all along that it could.

My shoe analogy at the start of this post may seem a little odd. But the retailer was warning me that my shoes may become scuffed, hence the offer of the leather care product.

Imagine, if you will, the following scenario.

Doctor: I'm afraid you have diabetes

Patient: Oh no!

Doctor: Don't worry it can be treated with either Avandia or Actos

Patient: Oh fantastic

Doctor: Would you like a heart stroke or bladder cancer with that?

Sounds like a sketch from the Monty Python team doesn't it?

Meantime, people are coming forward because they are now realising that Actos, the drug they took to help their diabetes, has actually made matters worse for them.

A suit, filed yesterday in the State of California, [Los Angeles Superior Court] by Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, P.C. alleges that three California residents and their spouses claim the diabetes drug Actos caused their bladder cancer. The full press release can be read HERE

You can read more about Actos and the bladder cancer link at .http://www.actosbladdercancer.com/

Fid


ORDER THE PAPERBACK 'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman US and CANADA HERE OR UK HERE


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