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While our thoughts and best wishes go out to the six young men in intensive care after rticipating in a clinical trial for a new anti-inflammatory, it seems to have escaped veryone’s attention that two people died in the pre-licensing trials for Crestor, this eek’s wonder drug. In addition, a further 50 people suffered serious adverse effects that can be life threatening, and there was a strong consumer campaign to prevent its approval. But that was all of three years ago, and today Crestor is hailed as the great reakthrough drug for arterial health, something for which it is not licensed to treat. Indeed, say the esearchers, everyone over a certain age should be taking Crestor at its upper ‘safe’ imit of 40mg a day.
Meanwhile, the damage limitation lobby has been getting in full swing following the ews that six young men, who participated in an early-stage trial for the anti-inflammatory code-named TGN1412, are still in intensive care. As we write, two remain on life-support machines. Drug company apologists are earning their ‘conference trips’ to the Caribbean, sponsored, of course, by a drug company, to state in no particular order to any member of the media who will listen that: a) this is incredibly rare, if not unprecedented; b) drugs are remarkably safe; c) the industry is well regulated; d) and, because of a, b and c, it will never happen again. Each of these statements is false. What is unusual is that six young men should collapse in agony just minutes after taking the drug, and this is why the story has grabbed the headlines. Usually it’s something that happens gradually over a much longer period, by which time most anything else can be blamed for the person’s sudden decline in health.
Drugs are not safe. They are as safe as we can make them, which is not very safe at all. The fact remains that, in the USA alone, deaths from drugs are similar to a jumbo jet crashing every three days. Alarmist? Hardly. The figures came from the Journal of the American Medical Association. Finally, the industry is not well regulated. The regulators are funded by the drugs industry, and invariably populated by experts who are sponsored by drugs companies. Indeed, Britain ’s own drug regulator has prided itself on being the fastest licensing agent in the West, so a drug company that needs to get a drug onto the market quickly knows just where to come. Because of the above, people will continue to die in early, late and post-licensing clinical trials. Indeed it happens every day, but not in such a dramatic fashion. That’s why you never read about it.