MEDICINES THAT KILL

From and article in the London daily Mail, May 12, 2006

There are growing concerns about the safety of medicines, after it emerged that some are prescribed without their full effects being known.

Over 250,000 patients are admitted to hospital each year because of adverse rections to drugs - and doctors estimate 10,000 patients a year died from them. Children, pregnant women & the elderly are particuarly vulnerable to the dangers, which include sudden death, respiratory failure & heart attacks.

and now you are supposed to believe that by avoiding one of the main concerns of drug management - ALLERGY - is fine to be overlooked according to the new greed guidelines from Big Pharma.

It used to be that if a person showed signs of allergy to a prescribed pharmaceutical, it was stopped immediately. It was stopped to prevent anaphylactic shock which leads to death.

Technique Eases Patient Allergy to Plavix

FRIDAY, May 12 (HealthDay News) -- A new method developed by U.S. researchers can help patients overcome an allergy to a common anti-clotting drug, clopidogrel (brand name Plavix).

Doctors often prescribe the drug to help prevent new blockages inside coronary stents, but about two out of every 100 patients who receive clopidogrel develop an allergic reaction marked by rash, itching, hives, or swelling of the tongue and airway. Some patients develop an anaphylactic reaction and go into shock.

"Allergic reactions can be quite frightening to patients and physicians, and can lead to discontinuation of the medication. We showed we could successfully and safely desensitize patients who had just recently had a drug-eluting stent placed. That's a critical population to manage," Dr. Nicolas E. Walker, a cardiology fellow at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, said in a prepared statement.

The desensitization protocol was used on eight patients. While being monitored in the cardiac ICU, the patients were first given a small dose of clopidogrel mixed into a drinkable solution. Every 15 minutes over the next few hours, the patients received an additional, higher dose of the drug. This continued until they were able to tolerate the target dose of 75 milligrams of clopidogrel. In total, the patients received nine doses totaling 150 milligrams of the drug.

Antihistamines and other anti-allergy medicines were used to treat patients who developed allergy symptoms during the desensitization process. All eight patients completed the process and were able to safely take a daily 75 milligram dose of clopidogrel at home without suffering allergic reactions.

Patients who suffer the most severe reaction -- anaphylactic shock -- to clopidogrel were not included in this study.

The findings were presented Thursday at a meeting of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions in Chicago.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about clopidogrel.

so how about them apples, eh?