December 1, 2008

New Study Spins Actos' Health Risk While Ignoring Its True Dangers




The study's finding was this:


This meta-study discovered the real risks:


As reported by are these:
Note this comment from the study:




Medscape: Glitazone Use May Be Associated With Macular Edema in Diabetics












Actos and Avandia -- Dangerous Diabetes Drugs


Scott said...

At this point, I really don't expect any different from the pharmaceutical industry. Pharma has made a business practice of conducting misleading studies, selectively disclosing trial results and other relevant information all in pursuit of healthcare dollars. At the same time, this same industry has backed legislators who work against meaningful healthcare reform so as not to disrupt their current business model.

However, we owe you a debt of gratitude for bringing attention to these issues, because we're certainly not hearing it from the healthcare industry, and sadly, many medical doctors are also blissfully unaware of the full impact of these dangerous drugs.

Boz said...

Avandia was one of the first drugs prescribed to me when I was diagnosed w/ type 2. What a mistake. I retained water in my lower legs and still have dark scars to show for it. The endocrinologist I went to see took me off of it immediately, and put me on metformen and Byetta. What a difference.

Anonymous said...

It is good that not a lot of people are commenting on this post. My mother-in-law has type 2 diabetes and takes the Actos. She retianed water also for a short period, but has never had the sugar control she has on this drug. Her doctors advised that Actos lowers sugar the same but works at the root of the disease. She believes this will give her longer quality of life. People are individuals so you cant say a drug is bad for everyone.

Jenny said...

Her doctor believes that Actos gets to the "root" of diabetes because for a decade the drug companies told doctors that the TZDs reversed insulin resistance and regrew beta cells. This was based on poor research and was debunked two years ago.

We know now what these drugs do and mainly it is that they turn baby bone cells into new fat cells
which take up glucose, lowering blood sugar. Long term, this is very bad for bones.

No one questions that these drugs work to lower blood sugars for some people. Our concern is the long term effects which are only now starting to become clear. There are other ways to lower blood sugar that are safer.

Anonymous said...

This original post is old and as such may not warrant further comment. I would like to say thank you for bringing to light many important aspects of a disease that more and more people seem to be in the dark about. I think you are providing a tremendous service at a time when doctors are too busy to provide the education needed to properly manage this disease. However I do need to point to some discrepancies found in your analysis. 1) your response to anonymous and your blood sugar 101 post suggests that fat cells take up glucose/grow new fat cells that take up glucose. Fat cells store FFA for energy in a triglyceride form-not glucose. 2)The Mayo clinic study discussed in this post showed no statistical difference between groups and really no favorable trend for either treatment yet you claim otherwise in the post. 3)You mention the long term risks of Actos (well done) such as fracture risk and CHF but spend more time discussing macular edema and liver enzymes without a mention of themalignancies found in Actos label or long term studies. When discussing obscure risks like these shouldn't the more serious ones be highlighted? Thanks for your help

Jenny said...

The Mayo study makes the point that the drug doesn't change abdominal fat but DOES increase butt fat. The lack of change was for abdominal fat.

Re: fat cells and glucose, to get technical, the glucose is tranformed to triglyceride before being stored as fat in the fat cells, but it is glucose that is the basis for this new fat.

Triglycerides drop dramatically if you cut the glucose out of your diet.

Anonymous said...

I'm neither pro or con towards actos. But I have been using it to lower my blood sugar along with diet and exercise. When I used diet & exercise along I didn't get results because my blood sugar levels were so off. Now I can workout much harder and not get the cravings for carbs like I use too. What I am saying is that I'm using actos just for the short term and then I will kick the actos crutch and stay with the exercise and diet. Actos shouldn't become a way of life.

Jenny said...

It's not a matter of opinion anymore.

Read this post to read huge study that found Actos significantly raises the risk of macular edema leading to blindness:

Stop it or you'll go blind