With friends like these, mainstream docs should start to see the truth
Merck has been working overtime to get its long-standing "statin" drug, Mevacor, approved for over-the-counter sale. That's right—they want to place it right there next to all of those other "safe" OTCs available for the picking.
Surprisingly, the FDA has rejected its "benefactor's" request on two separate occasions. But that didn't stop Merck from going in for its third attempt (which was quickly squashed yet again).
My guess is that Merck is well aware of recent news reports that the average U.S. cholesterol rate has fallen into the "ideal" range. No doubt these "guidelines" were once penned by these same statin-peddling drug companies. Talk about painting yourself into a corner! That must have led to a company-wide panic, the very thought that their market might dry up. My gosh, what if people are actually healthy, according to these guidelines? That would be a tragedy!
Well, for Merck's bottom line, that is, along with all of the other companies that rely so heavily on the blockbuster statin drugs to keep their books in the black.
Merck has tried to overcome its panic by using somewhat curious logic. They realize it's time to lower the bar, yet again. They say that by making Mevacor an OTC medication, millions of people with moderate heart disease would have access to treatment that they would possibly miss out on otherwise.
They're regular philanthropist's, those Merck guys!
But in reality, is there ANYONE out there who isn't being offered statins by their physician already?
Beyond that, the FDA has highlighted a legitimate concern: Should folks be self- treating with statin drugs?
While the FDA thinks that Mevacor would be a safe option, even they worry whether people will follow the directions for use. Or understand whether or not they should be using it to begin with. The FDA cites Merck's consumer test as evidence that this would be a problem for the majority of potential customers.
The issue centers on who is a good candidate for Mevacor—and that decision is being left in the hands of people who aren't medically trained. (There's enough controversy over statins for those who are medically trained!) When given a questionnaire to test their ability to self-treat, only 20 percent of people were able to answer all of the questions correctly.
Even more disturbing, a good 30 percent of the people tested who already had a serious medical condition (existing heart disease, diabetes, or an incident of stroke) wanted to go ahead and take the self-treating, OTC option instead of working with their doctors.
Look, statins are dangerous enough. Now this drug company is perfectly willing to risk how many more lives just to keep market share. And it doesn't seem to bother them in the least to have patients self-diagnosing. This removes their doctors from the process, leaving these patients open to suffering from serious medical conditions that need to be monitored under a doctor's care.
A brief examination of statin use around the world strongly suggests these powerful drugs are being overused in this country. Too many doctors here play a simple "numbers game." This dictates taking a statin based on cholesterol levels. In fact, the total risk picture for a patient—with cholesterol being just one piece— should be evaluated before considering a drug. By creating a simple, accurate overall risk profile for individual patients, the use of statins could actually be cut in half in this country. Statins are a $22-billion-dollar bonanza here. So, as you might imagine, the drug companies and their well paid MD's are unlikely to embrace such an approach, however rational and well supported by the available scientific evidence.
As you can tell, I'm no great fan of the "statins for everybody" mentality. But I am hoping this latest move on the part of Merck will highlight to mainstream docs everywhere the need to get back to old-fashioned medicine that is based on the individual patient and not dictated by some drug corporation and their shareholders.
The FDA stuck to their guns and slapped Merck's hands a third—and hopefully final—time.
