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thomas davison

A drug that companies make billions a year in, does virtually nothing.
January 22, 2019 by IWB
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via drmalcolmkendrick:

Sometimes you read a thing quickly, and then you have to read it again to make sure you read it right. Yesterday I was sent a copy of a �Patient page� from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The page was from the April 3rd 2013 edition, pp 1419. It is stamped �JAMA � copy for your patients�. JAMA is one of the highest impact medical journals in the world.

This patient page states that:

�One question involves disagreement about whether the statin side effects are merely uncomfortable or actually pose significant health risks. The other question is whether reducing bad cholesterol will actually help you live longer than you otherwise would. Some of this disagreement involves how physicians interpret the results of studies. However, a 2010 analysis combined the results of 11 studies and found that taking statins did not lower the death ratefor people who did not have heart disease. If your physician recommends taking a statin, talk to him or her about the risks and benefits for your individual situation.�

For many years I have been ridiculed by colleagues for saying that, if you do not already have established heart disease, statins do not increase your life expectancy. By which I mean that they don�t� actually work. �Don�t be ridiculous.� Is what they exclaim to me. I usually reply that the evidence is pretty clear, and always has been. But I know that they don�t believe me.

Recently, without warning, one of the most influential medical journals in the world turned round and confirmed it. JAMA has stated in black and white that if you do not have established heart disease e.g. angina, previous heart attack, you will not live any longer if you take a statin.

Frankly, I think JAMA will now come under ever increasing bombardment from the �experts� and will end up retracting this statement. In fact, I am willing to bet that they will � having now seen some of the outraged letters sent in. However from time to time the truth � like a small grass shoot growing through a concrete pavement � will emerge. As it did in April.

(I should add, at this point, that around 95% of people who take statins do not have established heart disease.)

However, wrapped up in this issue, is an inevitable argument. I know this argument well, for I have heard it a thousand times. �Ah, but it is not just death we are talking about here�. statins prevent non-fatal heart attacks and non-fatal strokes and suchlike. These are terrible things that damage the quality of your life. Medicine is not only about getting people to live longer, it is also about quality of life. Preventing a non-fatal stroke is extremely important, and statins do this.� In other words, statins don�t make you live longer, but they do provide other, very significant benefits, by preventing Serious Adverse Events (SEAs).

This is a good argument. At least it would be if it were true. However, we have no idea about whether it is true or not. For the simple reasons that the data on SEAs is almost entirely hidden from view. Data on SEAs are considered so commercially sensitive that, in most jurisdictions, pharmaceutical companies won�t release them (and don�t have to release them), even if you ask nicely*.

Before moving onto that issue, I know that I need to explain I am talking about here in a little more detail, and clear up a bit of confusion with the nomenclature. For in the area of adverse events/effects, we have two terms that sound very similar, but mean very different things.

Firstly, there are drug related adverse effects. These are often called �side-effects�. But side effects can be good, or bad. For example Viagra was developed as an angina drug but it was found to create enhanced erections, as a side-effect. [You can decide if this is a beneficial side-effect or not]. Viagra also causes headaches. This is also a side-effect, but it would be more accurate to call it a drug related adverse effect.

Drug related adverse effects = negative/unpleasant �side-effects� of a drug

2Anne · Joined: 04 May 2008 Posts: 399 Location: Norfolk

These drugs put me off my feet three times. Once I had to go through the airport in a wheelchair as my legs gave way on them.
Just heard from a friend who has serious problems with them as well.
They are downright dangerous and a big con trick claiming all sorts of cures and wonders. Snake oil!!