More about statin side effects

April 2012

“New” statin side effects

Those of you, who have read our member Duane Graveline´s book ”Thief of Memory” know that bad memory is one of the many serious side effects from statin treatment. According to Dr Graveline thousands of reports about cognitive problems that have occurred during statin treatment and have disappeared after its discontinuation, have been sent to FDA since the introduction of these drugs. A few months ago FDA finally have officially admitted in a New safety alert that such problems may occur. You can read more about that in several newspapers, for instance NY Times, Edmonton Journal and Boston Globe

You may probably ask, how come that it took more than ten years? Let me cite a few words from Marcia Angell´s book ”The Truth About the Drug Companies. How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It”. Marcia Angell is the former editor in chief of The New England Journal of Medicine.

”Congress also put the FDA on the pharmaceutical industry´s payroll . . . Fees . . . soon accounted for about half the budget of the agency´s drug evaluation center. That makes the FDA dependent on an industry it regulates.” (page 208)

”The FDA is subject to industry pressures through its eighteen standing advisory committees on drug approvals. These committees, which consist of outside experts in various subspecialities, are charged with reviewing new drug applications and making recommendations to the agency about approval. The FDA almost always takes their advice. Many members of these committees have financial connections to interested companies . . . Members of FDA advisory committees are said to command unusually high consulting fees from drug companies.” (pages 210-211).

Here is a relevant and scary video from an insider, who has worked for 15 years in the drug industry.

In a previous newsletter I told you about statins and the risk of cancer. Our article about this issue has now been published in the paper version of Quarterly Journal of Medicine.

Kim Greenhouse from a Los Angeles Radio named ”It´s Rainmaking Time” interiewed me recently. You can listen to it here.