Are We Big Pharma's Guinea Pigs? 8 Drugs Used by Millions Before Being Pulled for Dangerous Side-Ef

[madokie]

Big Pharma hopes we'll forget about these drugs.

Blockbuster drugs like Viagra, Lipitor, Prozac and Nexium have made Big Pharma one of the nation's top industries. Even before direct-to-consumer advertising on TV, there were blockbuster drugs like Ritalin, Valium, Tagamet and Premarin. To be a blockbuster a drug has to 1) be usable by almost everyone; 2) be used every day; 3) be used indefinitely; 4) solve an everyday health problem like heartburn or high cholesterol; 5) have a fun or memorable ad campaign; 6) get social buzz; and 7) be sold to a large number of people quickly.

The last qualification—quick sales to millions—is crucial because Big Pharma has a small sales window before a patent runs out. But it's also dangerous because many risks don't emerge until millions take the drug so the public serves as unwitting guinea pigs. In fact, the "early user/guinea pig" factor is what sunk Vioxx 10 years ago.

Because of patent pressure, minor drug risks are often only admitted when the patent runs out, a ruse AlterNet has written about. But when risks can't be ignored, even if the drug is selling briskly, the drug will be unceremoniously withdrawn and seldom mentioned again. Here are some blockbusters in the drug graveyard that Big Pharma hopes we will forget about.

1. Darvon and Darvocet

Is an opioid-linked medication that relieves pain worth the overdoses, death, addiction and abuse that are often in its wake? It is a question we hear today with drugs like OxyContin, but dates all the way back to 1957 when Eli Lilly began marketing Darvon.

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/are-we-big-pharmas-guinea-pigs-8-drugs-used-millions-being-pulled-dangerous-side-effects?paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark

[Blue_Tires]

1. I remember a huge expose in some newspaper (WSJ?) years ago

about how regulatory teeth and testing standards had been loosened at the FDA (mostly through Big Pharm lobbying $$$$), allowing a lot of barely-tested meds out in the marketplace (with the inevitable consequences)...This was the time when antidepressants, anti-cholesterol, etc were really big business and everyone was rushing their products to market -- Like maybe 1999 or 2000, so I'm damn sure things have only trended downward since that story...

[ReRe]

2. Thanks for this report...

... I checked it out and am not or never took any of those 8 drugs.

[ellenrr]

6. good for you, but the point is Big Pharma's take-down of the American people,

not your individual health. I mean - I do wish you good health, but that is not the point here.

[ReRe]

7. I'm sorry...

... thank you so very much for putting me in my place.

[bvf]

3. Bookmarked, but isn't this obvious?

You only have to see a pharmaceutical ad or two on TV that claims in ten words that a particular product will help this or that problem, and then goes on to use fifty more warning you of all the possible complications.

Yay capitalism.

[littlewolf]

4. I took a fair amt of Darvon and Darvocette

back in the day .... had a lot of pain.

[IkeRepublican]

5. As if there's any doubt

Shit yeah, we are.

Big Pharm Co's keep aside a ton of dough when the results come in (people get sick from it or worse).

[tk2kewl]

9. Free trade! We are no different than any other natural resource to the profit machine.