Are Fosamax and other bone drugs
helpful or harmful?  On December 12th
we received the following news through
Reuters news agency:

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Manhattan
federal judge has rejected Merck & Co’s
effort to dismiss 24 cases alleging that
its Fosamax drug treatment for osteoporosis
causes jaw damage.

Drug can cause jaw damage after less than three years of
continuous use.

“In an opinion released Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John
Keenan ruled that the plaintiffs could introduce testimony by
two doctors to show that the drug can cause jaw damage after
less than three years of continuous use.

“Keenan said the evidence is sufficiently reliable to allow a
rational jury to establish such a connection.  He said individual
plaintiffs will then be allowed to present expert testimony that
Fosamax caused them to suffer such damage, and that such
testimony could by itself “make causation a genuine issue of fact
for trial.”

“The company faces a slew of lawsuits involving almost 900
cases by patients who say Fosamax caused osteonecrosis of the
jaw. A Manhattan jury is deliberating this week over the drug
company’s potential liability in one such case.

These news releases came just one day after the same  news
agency reported success using these same bisphosphonate
drugs  in treating breast cancer.  On December 11th, Reuters
reported:

“The analysis from a segment of the more than 150,000
generally healthy post-menopausal women in the WHI study
found that those taking Merck & Co’s Fosamax, or other
bisphosphonates, had 32 percent fewer cases of invasive
breast cancer than women who did not use the osteoporosis
medicines, researchers found.

“Fosamax is now available in generic form as alendronate.
Other commonly used medicines from the class include Roche’s
Boniva and Actonel, which is sold by Procter & Gamble Co.”

The article contained the following quote:
“The idea that bisphosphonates could reduce breast cancer
incidence is very exciting because there are about 30 million
prescriptions for these agents written annually in the United
States targeting bone health, and more could easily be used to
counteract both osteoporosis and breast cancer,” Dr. Rowan
Chlebowski, the study’s lead investigator and chief oncologist
from the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, said in a
statement.

No wonder so many people are losing confidence in our health
care system. It seems that we are supposed to overlook serious
side-effects of a drug if they can find a tiny shred of evidence
that it may help another condition.

The most disturbing fact about the last post was that there are
“30 million prescriptions written each year for this drug already”
and they are hoping for many more.  I hate to think how many
of these women will suffer the excrutiating pain of a dead jaw
bone that needs replacement.

Please be cautious. Get my free report about the dangers of
these drugs by putting your email address in the upper right
corner of this blog.