Summary
The statin drug Crestor is a highly dangerous prescription drug that causes an alarming rate of kidney damage, says Public Citizen, a consumer protection group. The drug, manufactured by AstraZeneca, is responsible for a rate of kidney disease
75 times higher than with other similar drugs.
It's yet more evidence of problems from statin drugs, which continue to be heavily promoted by drug companies and physicians, despite alarming safety concerns and a long list of toxic side effects.
Original source:
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=6663141§ion=news
Details
-
Twenty-nine patients who took AstraZeneca Plc's AZN.L AZN.N anti-cholesterol drug Crestor have developed kidney damage, a U.S. consumer group said on Friday as it called again for a ban on the medicine.
- The rate of reported kidney problems is about 75 times higher with Crestor than with all other drugs in the same class combined, consumer group Public Citizen said.
- According to its analysis, there have been 6.4 reports of acute kidney failure or kidney damage for every 1 million Crestor prescriptions filled.
- "It becomes clearer by the day that this drug is uniquely toxic without offering any unique benefit, and that it must be removed from the market," Dr. Sidney Wolfe, head of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, wrote in a letter to the Food and Drug Administration.
- AstraZeneca insists Crestor, known generically as rosuvastatin, is as safe as other drugs in the family known as statins.
- "Our data shows, with regard to that particular adverse event, (Crestor) remains in line with other statins," company spokeswoman Emily Denney said.
- AstraZeneca updates information about health problems reported in Crestor patients every week on its Web site www.rosuvastatininformation.com, Denney said.
- The "adverse event" reports often are incomplete and do not prove if a drug caused a particular problem, but the FDA uses them to look for signals of possible drug-induced hazards.
- According to the site, "serious" kidney problems are "very rare" and occur at a rate of less than one in 10,000.
- Millions of people worldwide take statins, such as Pfizer Inc.'s PFE.N Lipitor and Merck & Co Inc.'s MRK.N Zocor, to lower their cholesterol.
- High cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease.
- Bayer AG's BAYG.DE statin Baycol was pulled from the market in 2001 after it was linked to more than 100 deaths, many of them from a severe muscle-damaging condition called rhabdomyolysis.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he has published numerous courses on preparedness and survival, including financial preparedness, emergency food supplies, urban survival and tactical self-defense. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams created TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He's also the CEO of a highly successful email newsletter software company that develops software used to send permission email campaigns to subscribers. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and martial arts training. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Email this article to a friend
Share
this article on: 
