Lipitor users: Read BW cover

Here is some recent reporting in the Wall Street Journal regarding Lipitor marketing that is allegged to be false and misleading to add million of patients. Food for thought. The blog posting that has additional detail links to the original wall street journal story. I have also added a couple other opinion pieces.

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2007/12/20/a-jug-of-wine-a-loaf-of-bread-and-lipitor/

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http://www.pharmalot.com/2007/12/pfizer-sued-by-former-exec-over-lipitor-marketing/

http://www.gooznews.com/archives/000916.html

http://brodyhooked.blogspot.com/2008/01/alleged-off-label-lipitor-marketing.html

Lipitor also eliminates CoenzymeQ10 which is necessary for healthy heart & Lung function. Check out what the American Cancer Society has to say about Statin drugs and CoenzymeQ10.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/coenzymeQ10/patient/20.cdr
Pete Mare

I thought it was a tremendous piece of journalism. The point about rho-kinase and its role reducing inflammation was fascinating. Clearly, drugs have global effects.

Not too long ago I was doing a little research in wildlife birth control and discovered that a statin (20,25-Diazacholesterol) developed as an anti-cholesterol drug for humans has been tried as a contraceptive for birds and small mammals. Apparently, it was yanked as a human drug because it caused nervousness. But for the last 40 years, under the names Ornitrol or Diazacon, it has been used on wildlife. If a bird can't produce enough cholesterol, it can't lay viable eggs. (Eggs are full of cholesterol for a reason!) It worked like a charm. In fact, too well. Administered through spiked feed, non-target species were also affected, so it was pulled from use in the 1990s. Last year, however, a paper was published on a black-footed prairie dog trial. (http://www.berrymaninstitute.org/hwc_journal/ver001num001/PDF/Nash.pdf)

Also, as I went trolling through the literature, I learned that the effects weren't restricted to females. In a study published 21 years ago in "The Journal of Wildlife Science" (vol 51, number 3), male grackles given a statin-laced feed showed reduced sperm counts and a thinning of the germinal epithelium. Gracious. Which isn't to say this is the case with Lipitor, et al., but it certainly does give one pause.

Also... a couple of years ago my father, who has heart disease and had been taking a statin for well over a decade, was prescribed a bone-building drug called Actonel. He almost immediately started showing signs of a cross reaction. His symptoms were so severe that I kept a calendar. The morning after he'd take his statin, he would be in agony. There was more going on in his particular health situation, so I can only speculate. But I wondered whether the walls of his red blood cells had been weakened by long-term statin use to the point that when the Actonel caused calcium ions to be drawn out of them, the cells were battered and wrecked. He became anemic.

Which brings me to my final point: Both statins and bone-building drugs are for long-term use and as the population ages, the number of people who may be taking both is going to climb. There is virtually no research into how these drugs may affect one another.

I have taken Lipitor for years, later supplemented by Zocor, and lastly in the past 4 years Zetia. Many years ago one of my cardiologists mentioned that he thought that hearing loss might accompany these drugs for long time users. No proof - just specualtion, but no testing at all for use old folks who have had long term exposure to these cholesterol lowering drugs. The drug frims do not want any adverse testing that might reduce their "gold mine"

Lipitor is like a good cash crop. Let them make hay while it shines! American citizens are the most pitiable consumers. They have almost become guinea...
No body blames coffee or Tea or the like. Are they not draining the pockets. Are they in any way useful for humanbeings. It is for the sake of the Businessmen we drink and say thanks to them. They like it.
A large part of agriculture and animal husbandry is related to this colossal waste.
In fact there is a long list of 'wasted' farming.
We have used the tillable land for son many unproductive purposes and some times harmful ones like "grass' etc.
How are we justified in isolating the drug manufacturers and keep writing blogs after blogs.