In Elvis lives!, I referred to the study Intensive lipid lowering with atorvastatin in patients with coronary heart disease and chronic kidney disease: the TNT (Treating to New Targets) study*, which came to the conclusion:
"Aggressive lipid lowering with atorvastatin 80 mg was both safe and effective in reducing the excess of cardiovascular events in a high-risk population with CKD and CHD."
I then pointed out the following teensy-weensy flaw in the conclusion:
"What the abstract failed to mention was the fact that there were 26 more deaths in the 80mg Atorvastatin group than in the 10mg group. What's worse? Having a major cardiovascular event or being dead?"
On a Mean Forum far away, I pointed out this teensy-weensy flaw in the conclusion and was told "are you really that retarded?" Funnily enough, I never got an answer from that person as to how the conclusion in red was justified by the data in green. I helpfully suggested that it might have something to do with the fact that Atorvastatin 80mg is a 700% increase in sales compared to Atorvastatin 10mg.
I then received an e-mail from Pfizer ® Customer Service with a spoofed sending address (it was fairly obvious that it was spoofed as it was my e-mail address!). There was the usual helpful Outlook Express "Some pictures have been blocked to help prevent the sender from identifying your computer. Click here to download pictures" message. I didn't click. Well, would you? I deleted the e-mail. I've now enabled comment moderation just in case this 'tard feels like spamming my Blog.
Pfizer manufactures Atorvastatin. Ho-hum!
*Funding for the study was provided by Pfizer Inc., New York, New York. Dr. Shepherd has received consulting fees from AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Oxford Biosensors, Pfizer Inc., and Schering-Plough, and lecture fees from AstraZeneca, Merck, and Schering-Plough. Dr. Kastelein has received consulting fees and lecture fees from Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca, Merck, and Schering-Plough, and grant support from Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca. Dr. Bittner has received consulting fees from CV Therapeutics, Novartis, Pfizer Inc., Abbott, and Reliant, and grant support from Pfizer Inc., Atherogenics, Merck, Kos Pharmaceuticals, Abbott, CV Therapeutics, and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Deedwania has received consulting fees and lecture fees from Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca. Dr. Breazna, Dr. Wilson, and Dr. Zuckerman are all employees of Pfizer Inc. Mr. Dobson is an employee of Envision Pharma Ltd., which was a paid consultant to Pfizer Inc. in connection with the development of the manuscript. Dr. Wenger has received consulting fees from CV Therapeutics, Sanofi-Aventis, Schering-Plough, AstraZeneca, Abbott, Merck, and Pfizer Inc., and grant support from Pfizer Inc., Merck, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
5 comments:
What we have is a problem of definitions.
Instead of referring to doctors as health care professionals, perhaps they should be referred to as the remote sales force for the pharmaceutical companies, since drugs (and surgery) seem to be the only tools in their toolbox.
I have had several doctors get very angry with me when I have asked them to help me find dietary solutions to my health problems, since it was diet that caused my problems in the first place.
Most doctors are useless, except to the drug companies.
They don't. Most doctors have been brainwashed ever since they left medical school and sometimes even whilst they are there.
You see I hated journals. Stats used to turn me off. My father a GP now retired always told me not to use a new drug until at least a year had passed and there were no problems with it. Im old enough to remember the Opren scandal. Dad never prescribed it because he felt it was too new and so he escaped. That taught me a lot when I was 12, so I looked at new drugs as just drug company tat.
For a long time I saw drugs as the answer and then the defining point of my life came. I was admitted to a unit myself( this unit for three weeks only (I would have escaped otherwise) and found out that the Doctor in charge of that ward was just using one particular drug to knock people out at night and I refused to take it. Primarily because knew the side effects and I wasnt going to take it, They tried to force me to have it so I pretended to take it. I was the only one not snoring through the night.
I saw what happened to someone who did take it. He gained a big belly of about a 9 month pregnancy and started to drool and crave carbs and became incoherent. In two weeks. It was eyeopening.
I realised then that the drugs were no better than chemical coshes
No one on that ward was being treated properly I took surreptitious histories and found out that the main method of treatment and the main way of getting out was to be completely and utterly knocked out all day.
I planned my escape, other people managed it really easily.
Its a nightmare in the NHS they do not treat people properly.
Fortunately I loved biochemistry and I had a good basic grounding so I was able to sort out stuff.
I uncovered vitamin deficiencies in people. They were being mistreated in the community aswell. Drugs were thrown rather than finding out the cause.
Its a shocking state of affairs.
Most Doctors are just drug pushers. All their postgraduate study is funded by and given by drug companies keen to get their wares out on the market and develop their market share.
They enlist doctors who will do their research for them.
Hi Henry.
I avoid going to my GP except when I want something that's broken to be fixed e.g. sub-lingual ranula or inguinal hernia, as he always tries to put me on a statin. I always politely decline.
Cheers, Nige.
I finally got Dad to stop taking his.
It took me nine months of pestering.
You see if they put you on a statin they get points, and points mean prizes usually in the form of more money for the practice.
Statins do not improve life. Lower cholesterol makes you lose your memory.
Many Christian Scientists seem to do quite well without doctors, sometimes even for things as serious as broken hips.
I don't believe in the pseudo-scientific potions of modern "medical science," (now there's an oxymoron if there ever was one). Our bodies take many thousands of years to evolve and to adapt to new substances. All the bizarre chemicals from BigPharma labs don't even come close to passing muster on an evolutionary time scale.
However, I also don't believe in gods, gremlins, voodoo and other religious fairy tales,
I wish I could find an atheist version of Christian Science ... or just more doctors who practice evolutionary medicine.
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