Thigh bones of patients on bisphosphonates "simply snapped while they were walking or standing," after "weeks or months of unexplained aching," reported the New York Times. The fractures were predicted in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism and Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma but drugmaker marketing occluded the messages.
6. Prolia Was Even Worse
Denosumab or Prolia was marketed as safer than the bisphosphonates but was not. In preclinical trials, monkeys developed jaw abscesses and two died from infections on Prolia.
7. Bone Drugs Can Be a Profit Party
The search for and shilling of bone drugs was fueled by the demise of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in 2002, which, even though it caused cancer and heart attacks, had prevented osteoporosis. Since drugmakers want a swath of patients who will take their product for decades unquestionably (think statins), a desperate scramble for bone drugs began.
The marketing included Sally Field, TV talk show host Meredith Vieira and a smorgasbord of "research" written by bisphosphonate-maker-funded doctors.
Like hormone replacement therapy (HRT) the bone marketing rested heavily on you-are-your-looks sexism marketing. Sure, diet, exercise, weight-bearing activities and avoiding prescription drugs that cause falling prevent fractures but they don't make drugmakers money.
8. Who Remembers HRT, Bone Drugs, DDT and thalidomide?
Before HRT's crash and burn, it accounted for 61 million US prescriptions--enough to treat a third of all US women. In addition to cancer and heart attack, HRT increased the risk of hearing loss, gall bladder disease, urinary incontinence, asthma, melanoma, ovarian, endometrial and lung cancers, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and brain shrinkage.
When millions of women quit the HRT en masse in 2003, the occurrence of breast cancer fell seven percent in the US and 15 percent in estrogen-fed tumors. Think about that.
Marketing of "fountain-of-youth" drugs is easy because of the normal human desire to remain vibrant and healthy. It is aided by the drugmaker capture of news and other online outlets with lucrative, wall-to-wall ads. But the third success factor is the public's short recall of public health scourges. Should we bring back DDT and thalidomide too?
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