F.D.A. Reviews Arthritis Drugs for Cancer Link

[RedEarth]

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are investigating whether a group of arthritis drugs made by Abbott Laboratories, the Schering-Plough Corporation and other companies heighten the risk of cancer in youngsters.

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it had received 30 reports of children and young adults developing cancer while taking the drugs over the last 10 years.

The drugs include Abbott Labs’ Humira, Schering-Plough’s Remicade and Enbrel, which is marketed by Amgen and Wyeth. The drugs are prescribed to children with arthritis to block a chemical that causes inflammation. They are also used to treat children with the intestinal disorder Crohn’s disease.

The products, known as tumor necrosis factor blockers, are key revenue drivers for the companies. Abbott’s Humira was the company’s best-selling product last year with over $3 billion in sales. Remicade also topped Schering-Plough’s portfolio with sales of $1.65 billion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/business/05drug.html?_r=1&partner=MYWAY&ei=5065&oref=slogin

[PSPS]

1. Yeah, sure. Like Bush's FDA will do anything about a toxic "key revenue driver" for a contributor.

[Warpy]

2. As always, risk versus benefit needs to be considered carefully.

When you weigh the benefit of not ending up in a wheelchair at the age of fifteen, completely unable to care for yourself due to massive joint destruction, the chance of neoplasm seems acceptable. Likewise, looking at a colectomy and colostomy at the same age might seem worse than a small chance of developing a cancer later.

Don't kid yourself, these are incredibly powerful drugs with very serious side effects. However, the diseases they treat are also horrific.

Patients need to be fully informed of both potential risk and potential benefit so that they can make informed decisions about their treatment. However, withdrawing the drugs because a few people have lethal problems with them when so many more people are thrown into complete remission by them seems both cruel and shortsighted.

Right now the drugs are on patent and ridiculously overpriced. They are not overused, however, and only patients in real trouble who haven't responded to more benign treatment are considered for them.