Is that logo supposed to look like a wishbone?
Okay, so you find out that you have osteoporosis, not good, but hey there’s a drug for that and your doctor is probably going to be pitching it to you as soon as an Amgen rep buys her or him a nice lunch and a lifetime supply of free pens. There’s only one tiny problem. Actually several:
1. It doesn’t work
2. It has minor side effects like causing cancer, terrible infections and sometimes even death
3. It costs $1650 a year.
Monkeys developed tooth and jaw abscesses and two died of protozoal infections.
Human subjects developed cervical, ovarian, pancreatic, gastric, and thyroid cancers and breast cancer “was the most common adverse event that led to discontinuation” in trials. Adverse effect?
Ten people were hospitalized with the skin infection cellulitis during trials and one died.
But the FDA approved Amgen’s Prolia (denosumab) this month to prevent fractures in women with osteoporosis, two months earlier than expected. And with Amgen consultants sitting unabashedly on the Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs.
Martha Rosenberg has the rest of the sickening (literally) story here. This is unacceptable. Patients are literally dying because of drug company profiteering and a regulatory process that is a deadly, expensive joke. This is not the first drug for osteoporosis that has had serious side effects and questionable efficacy. If your doctor suggests them, suggest he read the product information first. These drugs are great business and lousy medicine.
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