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Numbers Propaganda to Drive Sales of Dangerous Statin to Healthy People
April 3, 2010
The statin Crestor, with corrupt FDA blessings, will now be promoted to healthy people who have elevated inflammation (CRP) to reduce the risk of heart attack by 55%. Sounds like a miracle; too bad it is blatant propaganda.
The study supporting the FDA approval for Crestor did indeed find a 55% reduced risk of heart attack – in a patient population that has little risk for heart attacks in the first place. While that data is statistically significant it is not clinically or economically relevant. It means that 500 people would need to be treated with Crestor for a year to avoid one usually survivable heart attack. At $3.50 a pill, the cost of prescribing Crestor to 500 people for a year would be $638,000 to prevent one heart attack.
It is easy to lower CRP with exercise and nutrition. Why should someone take $1200 per year worth of a toxic drug when there are far safer options? The only thing this will do is increase AstraZeneca’s bottom line at the expense of taxpayers.
We don’t need a nation of drug addicts if we are going to reduce health care costs. The problem is that our own government is one of the biggest pushers of drugs, a problem actively fueled by both Democrats and Republicans. The New York Times is calling attention to the problem in a recent feature story.
The study supporting the FDA approval for Crestor did indeed find a 55% reduced risk of heart attack – in a patient population that has little risk for heart attacks in the first place. While that data is statistically significant it is not clinically or economically relevant. It means that 500 people would need to be treated with Crestor for a year to avoid one usually survivable heart attack. At $3.50 a pill, the cost of prescribing Crestor to 500 people for a year would be $638,000 to prevent one heart attack.
It is easy to lower CRP with exercise and nutrition. Why should someone take $1200 per year worth of a toxic drug when there are far safer options? The only thing this will do is increase AstraZeneca’s bottom line at the expense of taxpayers.
We don’t need a nation of drug addicts if we are going to reduce health care costs. The problem is that our own government is one of the biggest pushers of drugs, a problem actively fueled by both Democrats and Republicans. The New York Times is calling attention to the problem in a recent feature story.
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