Posted on 06/10/2005 10:43:08 PM PDT by David Lane
'MEDS' not 'HIV' - The real killer Don't believe what the drugs companies tell you.
WITHOUT HAART 'MEDS"
“These long-term nonprogressors [Hiv+ people who remained healthy] are a heterogeneous group with respect to viral load and HIV-1 responses…none had been treated with antiretroviral agents.”
AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, 12: 585 (1996) – Harrer, Thomas, et al, Aids Researchers
NOT ONE USED HAART
“Subjects: homosexual men in Amsterdam. “None of the LTAs [long-term asymptomatics–people who remained healthy]…received any antiviral drugs during the study [7 years].”
“Ten HIV+ people; 11-15 years infected; non-progressors [i.e., healthy]; maintained stable T-cell counts above 500. “These long-term nonprogressors…all showed the same risk factor (sexual exposure), and all had...virus...and none had been treated with antiretroviral agents.”
AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, 12: 585 (1996) – Harrer, Thomas, et al, Aids Researchers Journal of Infectious Diseases, 171:811 (1995) – Hogervorst E, et al, Aids Researchers _________ __________
WITH HAART
“…Choosing between many of these [HAART] combinations is, therefore, increasingly dependent upon knowledge of antiretroviral toxicities...[which include] myopathy [gross muscle atrophy] (zidovudine [AZT]), neuropathy (stavudine, didanosine, zalcitabine; hepatic steatosis and lactic acidaemia (didanosine, stavudine, zidovudine); and possible also peripheral lipoatrophy and pancreatitis (didanosine)...drug hypersensitivity... lipodystrophy...[including] peripheral fat loss (Presumed lipoatrophy in the face, limbs and buttocks) and central fat accumulation (within the abdomen, breasts and over the dorsocervical spine [so-called buffalo hump]...[and prevalent in] about 50% [of patients] after 12-18 months of therapy...Metabolic features significantly associated with lipodystrophy and protease-inhibitor therapy include hypertriglyceridaemia, hypercholesterolaemia, insulin resistance...and type 2 ...diabetes mellitus. Dyslipidaemia at concentrations associated with increased cardiovascular disease occurs in about 70% of patients. These metabolic abnormalities are more profound in those receiving protease inhibitors...Most cases of diabetes have been identified in recipients of protease inhibitors...Anemia and granulocytopenia affect about 5-10% of patients who receive zidovudine...Virtually all antiretroviral medications can cause nausea, vomiting, or diarrhoea early in therapy...Diarrhea is probably most common with protease inhibitors...Most antiretroviral agents have been associated with hepatic [liver] toxicity...Most protease inhibitors seem to result in increased rates of spontaneous bleeding (bruising, haemarthrosis, and rarely intracranial haemorrhage) in haemophiliacs... 25-35% of patients cannot tolerate [AZT monotherapy] or triple combination therapy for 4 weeks...”
Lancet. 2000 Oct 21;356:1423-0. – Carr A, Cooper DA, Aids Researchers
BLINDNESS
“This study was conducted to determine the likelihood of the development of [immune recovery vitritis, IRV], which causes vision loss in AIDS patients with cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, who respond to HAART. We followed 30 HAART-responders…Symptomatic IRV developed in 19 (63%) of 30 patients.”
J Infect Dis. 1999 Mar;179(3):697-700
CASTLEMAN'S DISEASE
“Recently, we observed an unusual cluster of cases of rapidly progressing multicentric Castleman’s disease. Fever, weakness, generalized enlargement of lymph nodes, and marked polyclonal gammopathy developed in three patients with AIDS...Two of these patients died within one week after the diagnosis, with generalized involvement of the lymphatic system, liver, and bone marrow at autopsy. A fourth patient with AIDS who died equally rapidly after the diagnosis of multicentric Castleman’s disease had been seen in our hospital 14 months earlier... symptoms…started after the initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy in these three patients.”
N Engl J Med. 1999 Jun 17;340(24):1923-4 – Zietz C, et al, Aids Researchers – Karavellas MP, et al, Aids Researchers
DEATH “…Of the 70 patients studied, 84% were still alive after the 3-month study period...17 surviving patients (24%) had HAART regimens discontinued due to drug intolerance and 11 (16%) expired [died] during the study period...” J Pain Symptom Manage. 2001 Jan;21(1):41-51
NERVE DAMAGE
“The antiretroviral drugs currently licensed in the United Kingdom [June 1996] are zidovudine (azidothymidine [AZT]), zalcitabine (ddC) and didanosine (ddI). All three are nucleoside analogues...All are very toxic. Suppression of bone marrow elements can occur with any of the three, as can peripheral neuropathy [nerve damage].”
Adverse Drug Reaction Bulletin. 1996 Jun;178:675-8. – Ellis C.J., Leung D., Aids researchers
“A decrease in mtDNA [DNA of the mitochondria; the energy regulating entities within every cell] content was found in HAART-treated HIV-infected patients with peripheral fat wasting in comparison with subjects in the control cohorts...Lipodystrophy with peripheral fat wasting following treatment with NRTI [Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor]-containing HAART is associated with a decrease in subcutaneous adipose [under the skin fat] tissue.”
AIDS. 2001;15:1801-9 – Shikuma CM, Hu N, Milne C, et al, Aids Researchers
‘These drugs are as dangerous as chemotherapy,’ “7 HIV patients presenting LD [Lipodystrophy, all taking antiretroviral therapy] and 5 HIV non-LD controls participated in the study…Structural muscle abnormalities, mitochondrial respiratory chain dysfunction or mtDNA deletions were detected in all HIV lipodystrophic patients. The mitochondrial abnormalities found suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction could play a role in the development of antiretroviral therapy-related lipodystrophy. ” AIDS. 2001 Sep 7;15(13):1643-51 – Zaera MG, et al, Aids Researchers
“Combination drug therapy, or the triple-drug ‘cocktail’…often provokes severe side effects… ‘These drugs are as dangerous as chemotherapy,’ warned Dr. James Kahn, UCSF associate professor of medicine…” – Science Daily, Sep 4, 2001
SEXUAL DIFFICULTIES - Body distortions
“[Chapters in this guide to HIV drugs are entitled Introduction, Appetite loss, Body distortions (lipodystrophy), Bone death and destruction, Cardiac concerns, Diarrhea, Fatigue, Gas and bloating, Hair loss, Headaches, Insulin resistance and diabetes, Kidney stones, Liver toxicity, Muscle aches and pains, Nausea and vomiting, Nightmares, daymares and sleeping difficulties, Pancreatitis, Peripheral neuropathy, Skin problems, Sexual difficulties, The end]”
– A Practical Guide to HIV Drug Side Effects, CATIE, 2002
HEART ATTACKS “Use of protease inhibitors was strongly associated with the likelihood of having a myocardial infarction [heart attack] and correlated with diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidaemia.” Lancet. 2002 Nov 30;360(9347) – Holmberg SD, et al, Aids Researchers
This article was almost certainly written by an author who received all his information from trial lawyers who are attempting to try their case in the media. All the "experts" cited have almost certainly been hired by the trial lawyers to assist them in their case.
This article needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
"hired by the trial lawyers"
So true.
We all know the drugs companies don't employ teams of high priced lawyers.
The ethical drugs companies would never stoop so low as to use public relations firms or high priced lawyers to hide their crimes.....they care little for profit but only care about the public good.
So glad you drew attention to that 'fact'.
Instead of the government giving money to various researchers and drug companies for "research" and worthless clinical trials (of which there are many), they should just announce that they are STOPPING IT.
Further, they should announce that all such monies will be deposited into interest-bearing accounts (one for each currently funded disease). The first person to come up with a "cure" for the disease takes ALL OF THE MONEY. If they come up with a definitive, exceptionally life-extending treatment, they might qualify for a pro-rated portion. Hopefully, some of the private funds would follow suit.
Doesn't matter if it's a guy in his home lab; a student at a University; or the traditional "research lab" at a pharma company. Everyone in the world would be eligible.
That, of course, will never happen. WAY to many campaign funds to lose. We need to pay people for results; it eliminates the tendency to keep the funding coming at the expense of the patients. It certainly would put some focus into their research.
"We need to pay people for results"
Great post. At the moment we seem to be paying for results.....the wrong results.
Every day more and more evidence comes to light that many drugs are doing far more harm than good. The CDC admits that 48.2% of so called AIDS' deaths are from HAART 'side effects' but then happily calls them 'AIDS mortalities' and uses tax payers money to buy even more of these deadly drugs.
A cycle of madness and profit.
Insanity!
I think you have read too much into my comment.
What I said was true. This is a one-sided article.
That doesn't mean that it is wrong.
But I think that a person trying to objectively consider the merits of this controversy should attend to the fact that it is only one side of the story.
I gather, however, that your mind is already made up.
Dear Convervator,
Sorry if I over reacted but I have studied drugs company practices for years now and believe me, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Glaxco has been convicted again and again for actions that have resulted in many death (that they knew would result) and they simply pay the fines and change nothing.
The fines are usually a few million but the profits can run hundreds of times higher.
Like illigal drugs dealers they simply consider the fines part of the cost of doing business and the deaths as a minor PR problem.
Best wishes,
David
EXAMPLE
GLAXO STUFF
There Is No Doubt That Glaxo Is A Problem !
UK Observer July 8, 2001
Drug Company Admits Unsafe Vaccines Were Used
The former UK company Wellcome allowed thousands of babies to be inoculated in the 1960s and 1970s with toxic whooping cough vaccines it knew had not passed crucial safety tests, the Observer, a UK newspaper, claimed on July 8.
It said its investigations showed that two batches of the firm's vaccine were more than 14 times more potent than the standard dose and 14 other batches containing thousands of vaccine doses were not put through a crucial toxicity test.
One of the toxic batches was the same batch that led the Irish Supreme Court in 1992 to award £2.7 million (US$3.8 million) in compensation to Kenneth Best, a Cork boy who suffered permanent brain damage. At the time the Irish judge accused Wellcome of negligence and attacked the company's poor quality control at its Kent laboratory.
Now, 9 years after the award, the newspaper said the Irish Department of Health had received details from GlaxoSmithKline about the batch--numbered 3741--and was tracing 296 Irish children who were inoculated with it.
Glaxo Wellcome merged with SmithKline Beecham to form GlaxoSmithKline in late 2000.
The newspaper added that pressure from Denis Naughten, a senior Irish Member of Parliament (MP), has forced other disclosures from the company, including the fact that a second batch of vaccine, numbered 3732, produced by Wellcome around the same time, was even more potent than that used on Best in 1968.
In the 3 years after Wellcome produced the toxic batches, dozens of British parents believed their children suffered brain damage or even died as a result of the whooping cough vaccine. But their views were dismissed by drug companies and health officials.
The report quotes Gordon Stewart, emeritus professor of public health at Glasgow University, as saying the revelations are "scandalous." Stewart, who in 1984 was asked by the government's Chief Scientific Officer to investigate a link between brain damage and the vaccine, said he advised the Department of Health about these potential toxic batches in 1989 but they did not act.
His report, which was never published by the government but has been seen by The Observer, is highly critical of the whooping cough vaccine used at this time, which he believes was toxic.
Ian Stewart, Labor MP and chair of the all-party Commons committee on the vaccine issue, said he would be holding an emergency meeting of the committee this week and tabling a series of parliamentary questions.
He said, "The families need to know the truth."
"If it can be shown that Glaxo Wellcome were negligent in allowing toxic vaccines to be used, then the company must face up to its responsibilities."
The families of vaccine-injured children receive £100,000 compensation from a government fund financed by the taxpayer. Stewart believes if the firm is at fault, then they should pay compensation, which would be significantly more.
Source: http://www.vaccinationnews.com Vaccination News
Vioxx - best medicine ever invented. Cured my arthritis nearly instantaneously. A miracle drug.
Glaxo Faces Criminal
Action In UK Over
'Suicide' Pills - Paxil
From Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, PhD
6-7-4
This is a newsletter that just went out to our Drugawareness E-group and I knew you would all be interested in this late breaking news on the antidepressant front as well.
Also, if any of you carried the story last Wednesday on Prozac being good for children you should know that both Dr. Emslie and Dr. March have major confilcts of interest and therefore, never should have been allowed to do this study.
On top of that, in reading the results of the study there was NO evidence that Prozac was beneficial unless you call what they found as beneficial: a DOUBLING of the suicide rate and a suicide attempt rate FIVE TIMES GREATER on Prozac than placebo. So, I ask again, where was the evidence of any benefit? And why was none of that reported to the public?
________
IDS Research Chief Rewrote Safety Report
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=534&e=2&u=/ap/20041214/ap_on_he_me/aids_drug
Tue Dec 14, 6:58 PM ET
Health - AP
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The government's chief of AIDS (news - web sites) research rewrote a safety report on a U.S.-funded drug study to change its conclusions and delete negative information. Later, he ordered the research resumed over the objections of his staff, documents show.
As of November 10, 2000, FDA had received and reviewed a total of 70 cases of serious post-marketing adverse events, including 49 cases of ischemic colitis and 21 cases of severe constipation.
Of the 70 cases, 34 resulted in hospitalization without surgery, 10 resulted in surgical procedures, and three resulted in death. FDA has received two additional reports of death that the agency did not classify as being cases of ischemic colitis or severe complications of constipation.
FDA has been closely monitoring the drug since approval on February 9, 2000. Prior to approval, four cases of ischemic colitis were observed in clinical studies and were discussed at a November 1999 meeting of FDA's
Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee. These cases were transient, mild-to-moderate in nature and reversible upon discontinuation of the drug.
Between approval and June 1, 2000, FDA received seven post-marketing reports of serious complications of constipation. This resulted in the hospitalization of six patients, three of whom required surgery. During the same time period, FDA received eight post-marketing reports of ischemic colitis. This resulted in four hospitalizations, four endoscopic procedures, and no surgeries.
On June 27, 2000, FDA convened a public advisory committee meeting where risk management options in response to the serious adverse event reports were discussed. No deaths were reported up to that date. The consensus of the advisory committee members was that both physicians and patients must be informed of the potentially serious adverse events associated with Lotronex.
Following the meeting, FDA updated the healthcare professional labeling for Lotronex and required the drug?s sponsor, Glaxo Wellcome, to distribute a Medication Guide that warned patients directly about the risks associated with the drug. In addition, at the request of FDA, Glaxo Wellcome issued "Dear Healthcare Professional" and "Dear Pharmacist" letters to advise these groups of the important new information.
FDA continued to receive severe adverse event reports of ischemic colitis and complications of constipation associated with Lotronex. In addition, FDA received reports of death and more serious complications of ischemic colitis that required blood transfusion or surgery.
Upon completing its recent analyses of the 70 cases, FDA's view of the options included marketing withdrawal or a restricted drug distribution program. The restricted drug distribution program would provide: (1) safe use of Lotronex in appropriately informed patients, (2) continued access to Lotronex by severely debilitated IBS patients under closely monitored conditions, and (3) continued clinical research into the benefits, risks, and safe and appropriate use of Lotronex. FDA recognized that the other available treatments for IBS may offer inadequate relief from a condition that can be severely incapacitating for some patients.
At the conclusion of today's meeting, Glaxo Wellcome informed FDA that it will voluntarily withdraw Lotronex from the market.
For more information on this subject, visit the Lotronex Information web page created by FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. The URL is
www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/lotronex/lotronex.htm.
Some poor guy discovered that most ulcers are caused by a bacteria. Proved it, was screaming it from the rooftops, and was completely ignored.
He thought "outside of the box" (I really hate that term, but it is applicable).
The medical establishment, kicking and screaming the entire time, finally had to acknowledge him.
Who knows? Cancer might be caused by a bacteria, fungus, or virus and easily treated while the indoctrinated concentrate on variations of chemo and other lethal treatments. They tend to look at the minutiae of cellular biology, thinking it's the cause and not the effect.
FWIW, I'm in no way an alternative therapy type; I just think they've turned their heads in the wrong direction.
Pay them to figure it out; and they will. They ALWAYS DO.
Material from the Independent is not allowed.
Sorry. I will never post any in future.
."Once upon a time, drug companies promoted drugs to treat diseases," Dr. Angell writes. "Now it is often the opposite. "
EXTRACT
Indicting the Drug Industry's Practices
By JANET MASLIN
Dr. Marcia Angell is a former editor in chief of The New England Journal of Medicine and spent two decades on the staff of that publication. If much of that time was devoted to reviewing papers on pharmacological
research, it must have been spent in a state of near-apoplexy.
Her new book is a scorching indictment of drug companies and their research and business practices. "Despite all its excesses, this is an important industry that should be saved - mainly from itself," she writes.
This turns out to be one of her book's more forgiving pronouncements, since the rest of it is devoted to assertions of shady, misleading corporate behavior. If she is accurate in her assumptions about big drug
companies' feistiness and tenacity, Dr. Angell is likely to be on the receiving end of angry rebuttals. She is sometimes vague enough to leave room for such attacks. ("I have heard that morale in some parts of the
F.D.A. is extremely low, and I can certainly understand why it might be.")
."Once upon a time, drug companies promoted drugs to treat diseases," Dr. Angell writes. "Now it is often the opposite.
Please provide source names and working links for all of these articles in your posts, 11, 13 and 14. Thanks.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1420798/posts?page=11#11
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1420798/posts?page=13#13
Provide a source and link for all excerpted published material you post. Also stop loading the sidebar topics.
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