Drugs continued News media may offer misleading drug information On June 1st 2000 the Associated Press ran a story that strongly suggested that many of the news releases on drugs commonly run on major news organizations may be very misleading. The AP news story was reporting on a study conducted by researchers from Harvard University and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and reported in the June 1st 2000 New England Journal of Medicine. In that study researchers reviewed 207 stories by U.S. news media of the benefits and risks of three medications that are used to prevent major diseases. These medications were pravastatin, a drug reported for the prevention of cardiovascular disease; alendronate, a drug reported for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis; and aspirin, which has been widely reported recently as a preventative for heart problems. The researchers noted inaccuracies in reporting the results but noted severe problems with researchers who had a financial interest in the drug they were reporting on. The article said, "Of the 170 stories citing an expert or a scientific study, 85 (50 percent) cited at least one expert or study with a financial tie to a manufacturer of the drug that had been disclosed in the scientific literature. These ties were disclosed in only 33 (39 percent) of the 85 stories." In their conclusion the researchers wrote, "News-media stories about medications may include inadequate or incomplete information about the benefits, risks, and costs of the drugs as well as the financial ties between study groups or experts and pharmaceutical manufacturers." Pain killers addition becoming increasing problem In the April 9th 2001 issue of Newsweek Magazine comes a story about the increasing problem with pain killer medications.  Presently four million Americans are abusing prescription drugs according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Much of the problem with abuse is directly linked to the usage of pain killers. Overall, while the pharmaceutical market doubled to $145 billion between 1996 and 2000, the painkiller market tripled to $1.8 billion over the same period. When pharmaceuticals designed to relieve pain, calm stress or bring on sleep, are used for nonmedical reasons they can lead to addiction and damaged health, said Alan I. Leshner, head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).  To combat this problem the NIDA and seven organizations representing the elderly, pharmacies, drug manufacturers and patients are starting a campaign to combat what Leshner called "a dangerous new drug abuse trend'' , the nonmedical use of prescriptions.  NIDA reported that from 1990 to 1998, new users of pain relievers rose by 181 percent; new use of tranquilizers went up 132 percent; people starting taking sedatives went up by 90 percent, and the use of stimulants rose by 165 percent.  It is estimated that about 17 percent of Americans age 60 and older are affected by prescription drug abuse. Leshner said that is because this age group uses about three times more of the drugs than do young people. High profile cases of pain killer abuse have surfaced in Hollywood with stars such as Melanie Griffith and Matthew Perry each checking into rehab in the last six months and publicly acknowledging their addiction to prescription painkillers. Calvin Anthony, vice president of the National Community Pharmacists Association, estimated that misuse and abuse of medication has more than a $100 billion impact on the nation's health care costs. Popular drugs are changing names due to mixups Two drug companies, Monsanto Co. and Pfizer Inc. have launched a campaign to make sure doctors and pharmacists don't mix up Celebrex with similar-sounding drugs.  Celebrex, a popular selling new arthritis pill, sounds a lot like Celexa, a drug used for depression, and Cerebyx, a drug used for seizure. To make matters worse, it is not just patients who are confused.  To date federal regulators have received 95 reports of errors by doctors and pharmacists in dispensing Celebrex. ``This is an accident waiting to happen,'' said Hedy Cohen, vice president of nursing at the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a Huntington Valley, Pa., nonprofit group that tracks medication errors. ``It is a matter of time until a person that is already sick gets the wrong drug and the chance for a serious injury can occur.'' As if drug mix-ups were bad enough this scary problem needs to be viewed in the light that even properly prescribed medications carry their own inherent risk. In The Journal of American Medical Association., Bruce Pomeranz, M.D., Ph.D., reviewed 39 different studies of adverse drug reactions in hospitals, and came up with some alarming conclusions.  According to Dr. Pomeranz, he estimates that 2,216,000 hospital patients experienced serious adverse drug reactions (side effects) and 106,000 died from these reactions in 1994 alone. This astounding number accounted for 4.6% of all recorded deaths in the U.S. in that year. This makes drug reaction deaths from properly prescribed medications the fourth leading cause of death in the country. Top / Back
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