NSAID's - The Jaw-Dropping Truth by Shane Ellison M.Sc.
In an effort to sell more drugs, medical ghost writing is the practice of paying authors to write
favorable drug reports for pharmaceutical companies. The truth be known, medical ghost writing leads
to mass deception among medical doctors and declining health among prescription drug users. Worse,
it can also lead to needless deaths.
To better illustrate the negative impacts of medical ghost writing we look to Dr. M. Michael
Wolfe. As a medical expert, editors of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) sent
him an unpublished drug review on the arthritis medication Celebrex to evaluate. At first glance,
he was impressed by what he read. It appeared that after six months of a company-sponsored study
involving more than 8,000 patients, the drug was associated with lower rates of stomach and
intestinal ulcers than two older arthritis medicines, diclofenac and ibuprofen. Feeling confident
that the drug was safe, Dr. Wolfe and colleagues wrote a favorable editorial about Celebrex to
accompany the newly released findings in JAMA. Consequently, millions of M.D.'s began prescribing
the now commonly used Celebrex.
As time passed, it was later learned that like many medical doctors of today, Dr. Wolf was a
victim of ghost writing. As fate would have it, Dr. Wolfe later came across the complete data from
the same study as a member of the Food and Drug Administration's arthritis advisory committee.
Numerous discrepancies were seen between the initial report and the newly found raw data. Most
notably, Pharmacia, the manufacturers of Celebrex, made it appear as if the study lasted only 6
months. In reality, the study of Celebrex lasted a year. During the last half of the year (which
was unreported) almost all of the ulcer complications that occurred during the study were in
Celebrex users.
When all of the data were considered, Dr. Wolfe stated that most of Celebrex's apparent safety
advantages disappeared. Unfortunately, JAMA had already released the previously written findings
that were derived from the fabricated report along with Dr. Wolf's favorable editorial. In an effort
to discover why the initial report did not illustrate the entire findings of the study, Dr. Wolfe
found that the study's 16 authors included faculty members of eight medical schools. All authors
were either employees of Pharmacia or paid consultants of the company.
The Blatant lies and disregard for patients health gets worse. Between 1990 and 1997 all clinical
trials performed on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as Alleve, aspirin, Motrin,
Ibuprofen, Bayer, celecoxib --Celebrex®, diclofenac -- Voltaren®, etodolac --Lodine®, fenoprofen --
Nalfon®, indomethacin -- Indocin®, ketoprofen - Orudis®, Oruvail®, ketoralac --Toradol®, oxaprozin
-- Daypro®, nabumetone -- Relafen®, sulindac -- Clinoril®, tolmetin -- Tolectin®, rofecoxib --
Vioxx® were sponsored by the drug manufacturer! The result was that 100% of the studies showed the
sponsored drug to have equal or superior efficacy when compared to other drugs.
The fallacies behind medical ghost writing of NSAIDS are quickly exposed via increasing body counts
among users. Despite the fabricated studies showing NSAIDS to be safe, real-life observations show
that approximately 107,000 patients are hospitalized every year for non steroidal anti-inflammatory
drug-related gastrointestinal complications. Moreover, at least 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur
each year among arthritis patients. This figure, as reported by Dr. Gurkirpal Singh, is comparable
to the number of deaths from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome [AIDS] and shows that NSAIDS
contribute to as many deaths as multiple myeloma, asthma, and cervical cancer combined!
Although outrageously high, the aforementioned statistics do not account for over-the-counter use of
NSAIDS. Thus, we can be confident that there are considerably more deaths caused by the use of
NSAIDS that go unreported. And because few medical doctors are unaware of these statistics, NSAIDS
can rightfully be considered a silent killer, especially when "experts" are paid to write favorable
reviews and drug manufacturers carry out their own clinical studies.
Not being aware of this silent killer, millions of American's are consuming NSAIDS on a daily basis
on the false hypothesis that they will successfully enhance their longevity. This will go down in
the history books as one of America's deadliest health myths. How many people do you know who take
an aspirin a day in an attempt to lower their risk of heart disease? What about Celebrex?
Ghost writing is a common, yet rarely mentioned practice among the drug industry. Very few
professionals and patients are able to get the real-scoop on the drug they are either prescribing or
consuming. This further illustrates the importance of seeking information about natural alternatives
which are not only effective but have killed less people than bee stings.
References
Okie, Susan. Washington Post, August 5, 2001; Page A11 Ivan Oransky and Jeanne Lenzer. Ties to drug
manufacturers deform medical reviews. USA Today. McLean, Va.:Aug1, 2002. pg A. 11 Singh Gurkirpal,
MD, "Recent Considerations in Nonsteroidal Anti- Inflammatory Drug Gastropathy", The American
Journal of Medicine, July 27, 1998, p. 31S Verrico MM, Weber RJ, McKaveney TP, Ansani NT, Towers AL.
Adverse Drug Events Involving COX-2 Inhibitors. Ann Pharmacother. 2003 Sep;37
(9):1203-13.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Shane Ellison holds a Master's degree in organic chemistry and has first-hand
industry experience with drug research, design and synthesis. His web sites are www.health-
fx.net and www.healthmyths.net. Visit them for jaw-dropping facts about health, fitness and
natural medicine