Crestor - cholesterol verlager
Huisarts Hans van der Linde is een
kruistocht begonnen tegen het middel Crestor dat wordt voorgeschreven aan patiënten met
te hoge cholestrol waardes. Volgens de huisarts uit Capelle aan de IJssel is het middel
niet effectief en veilig. Omdat niemand deze kwestie onder de aandacht wil brengen heeft
hij deze rol maar op zich genomen.
Van der Linde is geen onbekende
klokkenluider in het reguliere circuit, al eerder waren de bedrijven MSD en Bayer aan de
beurt. Ook heeft hij meerdere bedrijven aangeklacht voor omkoping van huisartsen en
specialisten.
Voor velen misschien een schok maar
onlangs las ik in een Amerikaans artikel nog een flink stuk over artsen die 9000 dollar
per patiënt ontvingen die zij als proefkonijn doorstuurden voor nieuwe medicijnen. Dit
soort mensen zijn niet alleen een schande voor hun vak maar moeten hard worden aangepakt
want dit heeft niets meer met de geneeskunde te maken.
Ik ben wat gaan spitten en zie dat Hans
van der Linde niet alleen staat, in Amerika is men al bezig met claims van slachtoffers
richting de makers van Crestor.
Ook het Geneesmiddelenbulletin van het
College voor Zorgverzekeringen is het eens met de mening van Hans van der Linde. Ook
krijgt hij bijval van Prof. dr. Siep Thomas, hoogleraar huisartsgeneeskunde aan de Erasmus
Universiteit in Rotterdam, en dr. K. Hoogenberg, internist, endocrinoloog en vasculair
geneeskundige in het Groningse Martini Ziekenhuis. Hoogenberg adviseert patiënten die
Crestor gebruiken om hun arts om een andere cholesterolverlager te vragen.
Al eerder heeft de fabrikant een middel
van de mark moeten halen dat tot ernstige leverschade kon leiden:
http://www.cardiology.nl/cardiology/pages/nieuws/
http://www.bcfi.be/nieuws/artikel.cfm?welk=167
Ook schroomt men geen methodes om de
concurrent onderuit te halen:
http://www.trouw.nl/deverdieping/dossiers/article7276.ece/
Ik zal u op de hoogte houden van nieuwe
ontwikkelingen.......
Ron
'The
Statin Wars'
In de Nederlandse media is weinig te
merken over de discussie die momenteel woedt rond de statine Crestor. Podium is het
medische tijdschrift The Lancet (Lancet 2003; Lancet 362(9393):1341; Lancet 2004;
363(9427):2189-90; Lancet 2004; 364:135). Het direct voorschrijven van hoge doseringen
wordt ten sterkste afgeraden, omdat die ernstige gezondheidsschade op kan leveren. Er
wordt geroepen om een onverbiddelijk verbod van het middel. Gaat Crestor de statine van
Bayer, het Lipobay/Baycol, achterna?
Schuitemaker GE. 'The Statin Wars'. Ortho
2004; 4:171-173
http://www.orthoeurope.com/ortho_pdf/ortho044statinwars.pdf
Cholesterolverlager onverantwoord
voorgeschreven
Artsen gevoelig voor marketing
De cholesterolverlager rosuvastatine
(merknaam Crestor) wordt veel voorgeschreven, terwijl er twijfels zijn over de
werkzaamheid en de veiligheid van het middel. Verschillende artsen betogen in Medisch
Contact dat dit te wijten is aan de intensieve marketing van de fabrikant, AstraZeneca.
http://www.zibb.nl/gezondheidszorg/zoekinzibbdetail/asp
Tuchtcollege veroordeelt
farmaceut
Pillenfabrikant AstraZeneca heeft de
Geneesmiddelenwet overtreden door artsen 230 euro te betalen voor het bijwonen van een
promotiebijeenkomst voor een nieuwe cholesterolverlager. Maar het bedrijf wordt niet
bestraft. Dit heeft de Codecommissie Geneesmiddelen, een intern tuchtcollege van de
farmaceutische sector, gisteren besloten na een klacht van huisarts H. van der Linde uit
Capelle aan den IJssel.
http://www.trouw.nl/deverdieping/dossiers/article7283.ece/
Cholesterolverlager Crestor onder
vuur
De relatief nieuwe cholesterolverlager
rosuvastatine (merknaam Crestor) ligt onder vuur. „De werkzaamheid is onvoldoende
bewezen.” Er is bovendien „een risico op ernstige bijwerkingen bij onjuist
voorschrijven.” Er zijn bewezen goede en veilige andere cholesterolverlagers. Toch
schrijven veel cardiologen en huisartsen recepten uit voor Crestor. Hoe dat komt?
„Effectieve marketing door producent AstraZeneca.”
De kritiek van de hoofdredacteur van het
Geneesmiddelenbulletin, drs. D. Bijl, op het farmaceutische bedrijf en op collega’s
is niet mals. Hij becijfert dat Crestor in 2004 maar liefst 390.680 keer aan patiënten
werd voorgeschreven. „En dat terwijl er nog geen enkel onderzoek is gepubliceerd dat
harde uitkomsten bevat als het gaat om de werkzaamheid”, aldus Bijl.
http://www.refdag.nl/artikel/1222783/Cholesterolverlager
CRESTOR FOUND TO CAUSE KIDNEY
DAMAGE AND POTENTIALLY DEADLY MUSCLE CONDITION CALLED RHABDOMYOLYSIS
Introduction: Crestor is one of the most
recent drugs found to have the potential to cause serious injury, and Ashcraft &
Gerel, LLP is now undertaking representation of victims of Crestor. Although our offices
are located in Maryland (MD), Virginia (VA) and Washington, D.C. (DC), our drug and
pharmaceutical practice is national in scope, and our lawyers are handling many drug cases
around the country. Therefore, regardless of what state you're in, please complete our
inquiry form on this web site or email us so that we can have an attorney from our drug
litigation department contact you.
Crestor (rosuvastatin calcium) is a
cholesterol reducing drug which is part of a class of pharmaceuticals called
"statins." Statins reduce cholesterol by reducing a specific enzyme responsible
for the synthesis of cholesterol in the body. Crestor is manufactured by AstraZeneca
Pharmaceuticals LP of Wilmington, Delaware and has been linked with multiple side effects,
including kidney failure, kidney damage and life-threatening rhabdomyolysis which involves
the destruction of muscle tissue. According to the consumer group Public Citizen, which
has repeatedly called for a ban on the drug, the rate of reported kidney problems is about
75 times higher with Crestor than with all other drugs in the same class combined.
According to Public Citizen’s analysis, there have been 6.4 reports of acute kidney
failure or kidney damage for every 1 million Crestor prescriptions filled. Public Citizen
recently stated that forty-one (41) patients who took Crestor have developed kidney
damage.
Dr. Sidney Wolfe, the head of Public
Citizen's Health Research Group, in a letter sent to the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) stated: "It becomes clearer by the day that this drug is uniquely toxic without
offering any unique benefit, and that it must be removed from the market.”
Bron:
http://www.ashcraftandgerel.com/crestor_drug_claim_lawyer.html
Do Not Use! Rosuvastatin
(Crestor) - A New But More Dangerous Cholesterol Lowering 'Statin' Drug
As we said in our testimony before the
advisory committee, a major factor that distinguishes rosuvastatin from the other five
statins remaining on the market is the drug's potential to cause kidney toxicity. In
the FDA review documents posted on the agency's web site before the Endocrinologic and
Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee it was noted "In contrast to currently approved
statins, rosuvastatin was also associated with renal [kidney] findings not previously
reported with other statins."
A number of patients taking primarily the
80 and 40 milligram doses of rosuvastatin had an increased frequency of persistent protein
in the urine (proteinuria) and blood in the urine (hematuria), that in some subjects was
also associated with another abnormal test result that is an early signal for kidney
toxicity known as the serum creatinine level. The FDA documents pointed out that
there were two cases of kidney failure and one case of kidney insufficiency with 80
milligrams of rosuvastatin in which these patients also had experienced both protein and
blood in the urine.
http://www.worstpills.org/public/crestor.cfm
Statin Drugs Side Effects and The
Misguided War on Cholesterol
In his search of the medical and
scientific literature for an explanation for his own statin associated transient global
amnesia this former astronaut and retired family doctor reveals to his readers the
critical importance of cholesterol for proper brain function and memory and the reasons
for the damage statin drugs do to our muscles, nerves and heart and even our
personalities.
From his participation in the San Diego
College of Medicine statin study to his review of FDA's Medwatch files of adverse drug
reports and his email correspondence with thousands of distraught patients the world over,
Dr. Graveline is uniquely qualified to discuss the magnitude of the statin side effect
problem, the complex and wide ranging role of cholesterol in our bodies and the range of
serious and unintended consequences of the misguided war on this vital substance.
http://www.spacedoc.net/index.html
What are the grounds for a
Crestor law suit?
If you have developed rhabdomyolysis,
kidney damage, myoglobinuria, drug-induced hepatitis or a family member has died from
acute renal failure (ARF) or any of the above that could potentially be linked with your
regular use of Crestor, you may want to consider a Crestor law suit. As with all cases of
negligence and product liability, it is important that you consult an attorney regarding
filing a Crestor law suit, in order to obtain compensation. Click any of the panels on the
left and right sides of this page to contact a Crestor lawyer now.
http://crestorlawsuit.lawinfo.com/frequently-asked-crestor-questions.html
Agency says U.S. researcher was
consultant to Crestor maker
One week after cholesterol-reducing
Crestor was approved last year, a top government researcher published a scientific paper
praising the medication, but failed to mention he was a consultant to the drug's maker, a
watchdog group has charged in a letter to the nation's top health agency.
Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public
Citizen's Health Research Group in Washington, D.C., said not only was Dr. H. Bryan Brewer
a consultant to AstraZeneca, he led a company-financed symposium during a meeting of the
American Heart Association about eight months before the drug's approval. The paper and
symposium focused on the drug's benefits, but not its side effects, said Wolfe, who added
that favorable drug reports by high-ranking government researchers can sway prescribing
habits of physicians.
http://www.bruha.com/pfpc/html/crestor_5.html
Crestor May Pose Risk of Muscle
Damage
FDA Issues Warning on Use of Cholesterol
Drug, Especially by Asians
The popular new cholesterol-lowering drug
Crestor may cause an increased risk of potentially life-threatening muscle damage,
especially in people of Asian ancestry, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday.
In a formal advisory, the agency said the
risk is small and was largely identified and understood when the drug was approved in
2003. But because of new post-market studies that underscored the concerns, the agency
concluded that the public should be informed and that warnings on the product label should
be strengthened.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2787-2005Mar2.html
Crestor's Withdrawal Urged
Cholesterol Drug Has Harmful Side
Effects, Letter Alleges
The new cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor
has more potentially harmful side effects than similar drugs and should be taken off the
market, according to a lengthy correspondence published in today's issue of the journal
the Lancet.
The letter, written by Sidney Wolfe of
Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said that in its first seven months on the market,
Crestor was linked to 18 cases of rhabdomyolysis -- a breakdown of muscle fibers that
releases proteins that can severely harm the kidney.
The letter said that the drug has greater
risk than other statins without providing greater benefit.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4176-2004Jun24.html
FDA Says Crestor Ad Is Misleading
The FDA "has been very concerned
about Crestor since the day it was approved, and we've been watching it very
carefully."
(CBS/AP) The Food and Drug Administration is seeking to block an ad touting the safety of
the cholesterol drug Crestor, calling the claims misleading.
The agency asked the drug maker,
AstraZeneca, to "immediately cease the dissemination" of the ad. AstraZeneca had
no immediate response to the request.
"The 'patient safety' print ad makes
false or misleading safety claims that minimize the risks associated with Crestor, thereby
suggesting that Crestor is safer than has been demonstrated by substantial evidence or
substantial clinical experience," the FDA said in a letter dated Tuesday.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/22/health/main662545.shtml
Meer links
Cholesterol Drugs Actually Cause
Heart Disease
http://www.mercola.com/2003/jul/26/cholesterol_drugs.htm
The Truth About
Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs (Statins), Cholesterol and Health
http://www.mercola.com/article/statins.htm
http://www.mercola.com/2004/aug/4/crestor1.htm
