It’s coming to get you
Wednesday, 10 October, 2007Remember VIOXX?
I do. I was taking it when the pharmacy called me to stop immediately due to potential death risk. The soon publicized scandal explained the hot flushes I had with every capsule.
As a result, Merck (the producer) pulled VIOXX from North American pharmacies.
Meanwhile, Europeans had their own near death experiences with a similar drug CELEBREX, but somehow Pfizer (producer of CELEBREX) managed to keep the drug in circulation.
Today I saw billboards advertising CELEBREX on this side of the Atlantic.
It competes with PREXIGE (pulled from the market in Australia, New Zealand, with similar steps being taken in Canada) – the drug most advertised in direct-to-doctors advertising.
This is an example why people distrust big pharma and doctors. This is an example why so many people are turning to homeopathy, and this in turn is an example why big pharma and your doctor demonize any treatment other than their own and why they insist you push pills even if they can kill you – dead patient is a quiet patient.
What gets me is that Merck also makes Gardasil (the HPV vaccine), is pushing for all the girls to get it, and people are still trusting them. If a company makes a product that is harmful for you, then the next year they turn around with another one to try to get some money off of it since they lost quite a bit in the lawsuits, why would you even consider taking anything else from them?? It’s all about them making money, while they weed out all the “inferior people.”
I have a different experience with Prexige, which was prescribed at the recommended 100mg a day dosage and proved incredibly effective. The alternative medicines I’ve been prescribed since are nowhere near as effective at reducing arthritis related joint pain and stiffness. From what I’ve read about Prexige, liver problems happened with people prescribed 400mg a day. Now it’s been taken of the market and I wish it hadn’t been.