Chapter 131: More Fraud From Pfizer: Company Supported by Promoters of Halcion For Oral Sedation

This Chapter is a continuation into my investigation of the off-label use of Halcion (triazolam) as a dental sedative and the fraudulent tactics used by its promoters and the companies that make the drug.

This post focuses on Pfizer, part of the Pharmacia Upjohn team – the company was recently caught – AGAIN- In criminal activity, promoting the off-label use of Bextra. Before that it was another drug.

Read David Evans’ report on this in Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&
sid=a4yV1nYxCGoA

I hear the huge fine got diverted to a company set up solely for the purpose of taking that hit and the DOJ allowed it. But who would be surprised.

More recently, Pfizer has been called down for misrepresenting Lipitor, and Dr. Roger Murphree, a promoter of orthomolecular treatments for brain disorders, has given me permission to post his article on this story, reprinted below:

Free Statin Drugs With Each Happy Meal

You just have to read this article to see just how crazy it is – it recommends fast food restaurants give away free cholesterol lowering drugs with each meal.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100812083608.htm

You can read more about the “cholesterol is dangerous myth” at the Weston Price Foundation

http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-diseases/cardiovascular-disease/581-dangers-of-statin-drugs.html

Pfizer Ads Come Clean About Lipitor

But is Anyone Paying Attention?

Accounting for 6.5% of the total market share, statin drugs are the most widely sold pharmaceutical drugs in history. To date, Forbes Magazine tells us that statins are earning drug companies $26 billion in annual sales.

Pfizer spends over $3 billion each year to convince us that we need more and more drugs to be healthy. The public and the medical profession have been bamboozled by the legions of drug reps, billion dollar ad campaigns, and creative statistics. Every weekday, some 38,000 Pfizer sales reps, roughly the size of three army divisions, make their pitches around the globe. They’re armed with briefcases full of free drug samples, reams of manipulated clinical data, and lavish expense accounts for wining and dining doctors and their staff. The medical profession, its organizations, the media, and the public at large have swallowed the statin drug propaganda, hook, line and sinker.

In 2004, Pfizer’s blockbuster drug Lipitor became the first prescription drug to make more than $10 billion in annual sales. Over twenty six million Americans have taken Lipitor, the most popular statin drug. Pfizer is now running full-page Lipitor ads in numerous papers, including The New York Times and USA Today.

The ads feature Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the artificial heart.

The ad reads –

In patients with multiple risk factors for heart disease, LIPITOR REDUCES RISK OF HEART ATTACK BY 36%*

The noteworthy part of this ad is the asterisk and this explanation of the 36% statistic: “That means in a large clinical study, 3% of patients taking a sugar pill or placebo had a heart attack compared to 2% of patients taking Lipitor.”

Another Jarvik/Lipitor Times ad proclaims: “In patients with type 2 diabetes, LIPITOR REDUCES RISK OF STROKE BY 48%* If you also have at least one other risk factor for heart disease…” The explanation: “That means in a large clinical study, 2.8% of patients taking a sugar pill or placebo had a stroke compared to 1.5% of patients taking Lipitor.”

Twenty six billion dollars a year for a one to two percent decrease risk for heart attack and stroke- that’s what all the fuss is about? It almost seems like snake oil.

Yet, some doctors are recommending we put statins in the drinking water. Others are now suggesting that infants with a family history of heart disease should take statins as a preventative measure.

Ok the real question is this: “Do statin drugs reduce deaths associated with cardiovascular disease?” Contrary to the Lipitor ads, apparently not, since a meta-analysis of 44 trials involving almost 10,000 patients showed the death rate was identical at 1 percent of patients in each of the three groups–those taking atorvastatin (Lipitor), those taking other statins and those taking nothing.

And what about using statins as a routine preventative measure?

A meta-analysis of 5 major statin drugs which showed that statin drugs provided a total absolute reduction in total mortality of 0.3% among those who showed no signs of having cardiovascular disease (primary prevention). With respect to preventing heart attack and stroke, the five combined studies showed that statins prevented these events by a mere 1.4%.

We’d be wise to read the study below before putting statins in the drinking water and handing them out with fast food meals.

The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology reported on an analysis of all the major controlled trials before the year 2000 and found that long-term use of statins for primary prevention of heart disease produced a 1 percent greater risk of death over 10 years compared to a placebo.

The only thing statin drug trials have proven for sure is that statin drugs lower cholesterol by inhibiting an enzyme known as HMG-CoA-Reductase. Regardless of their ability to lower cholesterol, they failed to show that this effect has any meaningful benefit for preventing early death from heart disease, heart attack or stroke.

And they’ve proven to be a catalyst for dangerous side effects.

The most common side effect associated with statin drugs is muscle pain and weakness. The symptoms are most likely due to the depletion of CoQ10, a nutrient that supports muscle function. One study found that 98% of patients taking Lipitor and one-third of the patients taking Mevachor (a lower-dose statin) suffered from muscle problems.

A Denmark study that evaluated 500,000 patients found that taking statins for one year raised the risk of nerve damage by about 15%–about one case for every 2,200 patients. For those who took statins for two or more years, the additional risk rose to 26%.

Former astronaut Dr. Duane Graveline describes in his book, Lipitor: Thief of Memory, his complete memory loss due to the side effects of Lipitor.

The incidence of congestive heart failure (CHF) has steadily increased since the introduction of statin drugs. In fact, while heart attacks have slightly declined, CHF has more than doubled since 1989. Statins were first prescribed in 1987.

An article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that in every study with rodents to date, statins have caused cancer. In the CARE trial, breast cancer rates of those taking a statin went up 1500%.

And one last reason to avoid statins- men whose cholesterol levels are lowered through the use of prescription medications double their chances of committing suicide.

In closing –

I applaud Pfizer for coming clean on their new Lipitor ads. I just hope the public and the brainwashed medical community pays attention to the asterisk and the fine print. A one to two percent benefit earns Pfizer over10 billion dollars a year. Mind-boggling isn’t it?

Click Here to order my book, “Heart Disease: What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You”

Treating and Beating With Orthomolecular Medicine Blog:
http://drmurphree.blogspot.com/

Rodger Murphree, D.C., has been in private practice since 1990. He is the founder of, and past clinic director for a large integrated medical practice, which was located on the campus of Brookwood Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Heart Disease What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You, and Treating and Beating Anxiety and Depression With Orthomolecular Medicine. He can be reached at http://www.treatingandbeating.com, by email at drrodgerm@yahoo.com or 1-205-879-2383.

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Resources:
1.Eleanor Laise. The Lipitor Dilemma, Smart Money: The Wall Street Journal Magazine of Personal Business, November 2003.
2. Hecht HS, Harmon SM. Am J Cardiol 2003; 92:670-676.
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4. The ALLHAT Officers and Coordinators for the ALLHAT Collaborative Research Group. JAMA 2002;288:2998-3007.
5. Heart Protection Study Collaborative Group. Lancet 2002;360:7-22.
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8.Horwich TB and others. Journal of Cardiac Failure 8,216-224,2002.
9. Therapeutics Initiative. “Evidence Based Drug Therapy. Do Statins have a Role in Primary Prevention?” April-May-June 2003. The University of British Columbia. http://www.ti.ubc.ca.
10. American Heart Association. Inflammation, Heart Disease and Stroke: The Role of C-Reactive Protein. http://www.americanheart.org. Accessed August 15, 2002. Miyao Matsubara, Katsuhiko Namioka and Shinji Katayose.
Smith DJ and Olive KE. Southern Medical Journal 96(12):1265-1267, December 2003.
11. Gaist D and others. Neurology 2002 May 14;58(9):1321-2.
12.Newman TB, Hulley SB. JAMA 1996;27:55-60
13.Sacks FM and others. N Eng J Med 1996;385;1001-1009.
14.Rodger H. Murphree, D.C.; Heart Disease What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You.
Harrison and Hampton Publishing, Birmingham, AL 2005.

Dr. Rodger Murphree, 2700 Rogers Drive, Suite 204, Homewood, AL 35209, USA

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