AstraZeneca Suppressed Information about Seroquel Link to Diabetes, Told Sales Reps to Lie

Friday, February 27, 2009 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: Diabetes, Astrazeneca, Seroquel

(NaturalNews) Drug maker AstraZeneca, seller of the Seroquel antipsychotic drug, suppressed clinical studies showing its drug significantly increased the risk of diabetes, say internal e-mails. As Bloomberg is reporting today (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601...), employee emails that were unsealed as part of a lawsuit reveal AstraZeneca deliberately hid at least three studies that established a significant link between its Seroquel drug and the onset of diabetes in patients. This fact was blatantly admitted in a 1999 e-mail sent by an AstraZeneca official.

The Wall Street Journal is also reporting today that "AstraZeneca instructed its U.S. sales representatives to tell doctors that its powerful psychiatric drug, Seroquel, didn't cause diabetes even though a company physician had at one point stated years earlier that such a link was probable in some individuals." (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123570604586...)

Today, AstraZeneca remains in spin control, once again apparently lying about its past behavior by saying, "None of the documents can obscure the fact that AstraZeneca acted responsibly and appropriately as it developed and marketed Seroquel." (spokesperson Tony Jewell, reported in Bloomberg.com)

AstraZeneca currently faces over 9,000 lawsuits over Seroquel, involving more than 15,000 people who say the company lied about the diabetes risks of taking the drug. It is well known in the natural health industry that antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs disrupt blood sugar metabolism and promote diabetes, but drug companies and the FDA have seemingly conspired to prevent the public from learning this fact (the FDA routinely approves drugs like Seroquel by trusting the clinical trial data provided by the very same company selling the drug!).

Why Big Pharma's "science" is pure junk

What AstraZeneca did with suppressing some clinical trials while highlighting others is called "cherry picking" the study data. It's a red flag that scientific fraud is underway, and no self-respecting scientist would ever support any conclusion derived from clinical trials that were selected in this manner.

Cherry picking the science is a routine practice at drug companies: They might commission ten (or so) studies on their drug, compile the results, then throw out all the studies showing their drug to be dangerous or deadly. The rest of the studies -- which magically show the drug to be safe and effective -- are then forwarded to the FDA for "review." The FDA, which conducts no scientific studies on its own, completely trusts the drug trials funded by the drug company, so it declares the drug to be "safe and effective" and gives it the stamp of approval for nationwide consumption.

This is how drugs get approved in America today. It is laughingly called the "gold standard of evidence-based medicine" by drug pushers and FDA bureaucrats. Anyone familiar with this process, however, realizes the whole drug approval system is based on scientific fraud and has nothing whatsoever to do with rigorous science or consumer safety (but it has everything to do with profits).

How many patients have been harmed by antipsychotic drugs?

There's no telling exactly how many patients have become diabetic or obese thanks to Big Pharma's dangerous drugs. The drug companies, of course, refuse to admit their drugs have caused even a single case of diabetes, and the FDA -- always in bed with Big Pharma -- continues to defend the scientific fraud demonstrated here by AstraZeneca.

In a reasonable world, all of AstraZeneca's drugs should be immediately pulled off the market for further review, and the company should be banned from selling drugs in the United States for a minimum of three years. But the FDA does nothing. Scientific fraud is no concern at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration... it's business as usual!

Can you imagine the outcry if a vitamin were found to cause diabetes? The FDA would go crazy over the story and probably try to ban the vitamin. Or what if an herb were discovered to cause diabetes and the herb manufacturer knew it but lied about it? The FDA would ban it and outlaw its importation into the United States.

Have you noticed all the outcry over Peanut Corp. and the fact that it knew its peanut butter was contaminated but sold it anyway? Practically the whole country went nuts over the peanut story, accusing the company of endangering the safety of consumers (which it clearly did). Many tens of millions of products were recalled and people lost their jobs. But get this: When Big Pharma knowingly sells a dangerous product and gets caught, nothing happens! Nobody loses their jobs. No products are recalled. The FDA remains utterly silent. Nobody gets prosecuted. No investigations. Just complete silence.

Why is selling dangerous peanut butter a crime but selling dangerous pharmaceuticals is openly tolerated by virtually everyone? What's wrong with this picture?

Truth is, it's just another day in the corrupt pharmaceutical industry. Business as usual for Big Pharma and the FDA.

Do something about it!

If you're tired of seeing these criminal behaviors by drug companies and the FDA, sign my Health Revolution Petition (www.HealthRevolutionPetition.org) which demands real changes that would end the corruption and criminal behavior in the pharmaceutical industry and at the FDA. With over 8,000 signatures already, this petition is gaining strength. It needs your support to help reform our health care system and end the fraud and corruption that dominates the pharmaceutical industry today.

Below, you'll find some shocking quotes about antipsychotic drugs and diabetes. This is must-read information. You will be absolutely astonished by these quotes...

Authors' Quotes on Diabetes and Antipsychotics

Below, you'll find selected quotes from noted authors on the subject of Diabetes and Antipsychotic. Feel free to quote these in your own work provided you give proper credit to both the original author quoted here and this NaturalNews page.

Additionally, some of the new antipsychotics cause rapid and intense weight gain, leading to high rates of diabetes. Two massive government studies released in 2006 on the real-world efficacy (as opposed to that reported in clinical trials) of both antidepressants and antipsychotics showed that most patients do not get better taking the drugs. Only about a third of patients taking antidepressants, for example, improved dramatically after a first trial.11 For antipsychotics, the story was even worse.
- Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation by Charles Barber
- Available on Amazon.com

In the case of Zyprexa and other newer antipsychotics, long-term use revealed that many patients were at higher risk of developing elevated blood sugar, diabetes, pancreatitis, elevated cholesterol, and considerable weight gain. Some patients gained over 60 pounds a year, and several died from these complications. In his clinical and forensic practice Peter Breggin has evaluated several cases of rapid death caused by acute Zyprexa-induced diabetes and pancreatitis.
In 2004, the FDA mandated that newer antipsychotics carry a warning about the risk of hyperglycemia and diabetes.
- Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Drugs by Peter R. Breggin and David Cohen
- Available on Amazon.com

For example, two side effects of antipsychotics which have received much attention include significant weight gain and the hugely increased risk (4 to 6 times) for developing diabetes. Yet, a nationwide survey of 300 psychiatrists chosen at random found only half (51%) had any knowledge that taking antipsychotics can cause their patients to develop diabetes. Only a little over half (59%) were aware that these drugs cause weight gain.
- America Fooled: The Truth About Antidepressants, Antipsychotics and How We've Been Deceived by Dr. Timothy Scott
- Available on Amazon.com

Other second-generation drugs that came on the scene after clozapine -- including Risperdal, Zyprexa, and Seroquel -- bypass the already mentioned side effects but pose a whole new dilemma: weight gain and metabolic changes linked to an increased risk of high cholesterol and diabetes. Beyond the known side effects, there is question about the relative effectiveness of these drugs. According to a 2006 study published in the Archives of General Psychology, there was no reported clinical advantage to the more expensive and highly touted second-generation antipsychotics when compared with the first.
- The Food-Mood Connection: Nutrition-based and Environmental Approaches to Mental Health and Physical Wellbeing by Gary Null and Amy McDonald
- Available on Amazon.com

Antipsychotic drugs may cause diabetes, but the FDA still allows their sale. Some prescription drugs are so dangerous that even health-related industry groups feel compelled to speak out against the drugs in order to protect the health of patients. In this case, a joint report by the American diabetes Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and the North American Association for the study of Obesity complained that an entire class of antipsychotic drugs increases the risk of diabetes. Take the drugs for your head, and lose your pancreas.
- Natural Health Solutions by Mike Adams
- Available on Amazon.com

Although confirmatory research is still needed, a body of evidence from published peer-reviewed epidemiology research suggests that Risperdal is not associated with an increased risk of diabetes when compared to untreated patients or patients treated with conventional antipsychotics. Evidence also suggests that Risperdal is associated with a lower risk of diabetes than some other studied atypical antipsychotics. In other words, the DHCP letter sent to physicians and the package inserts that come with their drug have very contradictory statements.
- America Fooled: The Truth About Antidepressants, Antipsychotics and How We've Been Deceived by Dr. Timothy Scott
- Available on Amazon.com

In addition, the risk of side effects like diabetes and lipid elevations is greater for older patients using these powerful drugs. The FDA recently warned that the use of atypical antipsychotic medication doubles the risk of death in the elderly. In some cases Alzheimer's patients can experience symptoms of aggression, hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thoughts, and bizarre behavior, all of which may be treatable with antipsychotic medications. However, antipsychotic medications should only be used for Alzheimer's patients who are psychotic.
- Before You Take that Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad for Your Health by J. Douglas Bremner
- Available on Amazon.com

If possible, try to address the antipsychotic agents first because they pose severe risks including tardive dyskinesia and potentially lethal neuroleptic malignant syndrome, diabetes, and pancreatitis. However, if the antipsychotic exposure has lasted for several years, it may take many months to withdraw, and therefore it becomes more practical to start with another drug that's easier to stop. But keep in mind that your risk of getting tardive dyskinesia from antipsychotic drugs is high and that the risk increases over time, so it's a good idea to withdraw from these drugs as soon as possible.
- Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Drugs by Peter R. Breggin and David Cohen
- Available on Amazon.com

On June 15,2005, the company settled a multicase product-liability suit for 690 million dollars involving life-threatening diabetes associated with its relatively new antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. Because the drug is directly toxic to the insulin-producing cells, some patients are dying in hours from the acute or sudden onset of diabetes and pancreatitis. Other patients endure a more gradually developing and chronic insulin-dependent diabetes.
- Before You Take that Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad for Your Health by J. Douglas Bremner
- Available on Amazon.com

The American diabetes Association estimates that diabetes is costing about $132 billion a year. To put this cost in perspective: all the cancers together in United States cost about $171 billion a year. We have a major epidemic, and we are only making the problem worse. There are many secondary causes to this pandemic. Some doctors are a little concerned, as increasing numbers of children are given antipsychotic drugs for anxiety and conditions like autism. This is because these drugs can promote weight gain and therefore elevate the risk of diabetes.
- There Is a Cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21-Day+ Program by Gabriel Cousens
- Available on Amazon.com

These medications have not, however, been without their own problems: They can interfere with glucose metabolism, increasing the tendency to develop adult-onset (type 2) diabetes and in rare cases ketoacidosis;19 they also increase lipids and cause weight gain, all of which can increase the risk of heart disease. Use of olanzepine, Clozaril, risperidal, and the atypical antipsychotics has been associated with an increase in diabetes but less so with risperidal. There are conflicting results for quetiapine.
- Before You Take that Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad for Your Health by J. Douglas Bremner
- Available on Amazon.com

The atypicals can cause substantial weight gain, disruptions in blood sugar control, and even diabetes. Nutrients depleted: Chlorpromazine, fluphenazine, and thiorizadine deplete CoQ10, melatonin, and vitamin B2; haloperidol depletes CoQ10. Although there's not as much information on depletions with the newer atypical medicines, their mode of action and side-effect profiles are similar enough to expect that they will deplete the same nutrients as the older, typical antipsychotics.
Needed supplements: CoQ10: 30-100 mg daily.
- Supplement Your Prescription: What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutrition by Hyla Cass, M.D.
- Available on Amazon.com

More than 90 percent of those prescriptions (all of them off label) were for the atypical antipsychotics, newer versions of the drugs that may cause serious side effects, such as rapid weight gain, diabetes, and a movement disorder known as tardive dyskinesia. Among boys ages six to twelve, more than half of antidepressant prescriptions written are intended to treat so-called conduct disorders, like hyperactivity and attention deficit, behavior that might have been written off a generation ago as "boys will be boys," but that now is labeled as a disease and treated with a drug.
- Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer by Shannon Brownlee
- Available on Amazon.com

Also, adverse responses to medications can bring on secondary diabetes. For example, Skarfors et al. (1991) announced that certain drus prescribed to treat hypertension (beta blocking agents, thiazides, or hydralazine) decreased insulin sensitivity. According to information released from Oregon Health Sciences University (Portland), antipsychotic medications (clozapine, olanzapine, or quetiapine) increased the occurrence of diabetes (Muench et al. 2001).
- Disease Prevention and Treatment by The Life Extension Editorial Staff
- Available on Amazon.com

Any sign of diabetes or pancreatitis while taking the newer antipsychotic drugs requires the immediate withdrawal of the drugs. A new heart arrhythmia or other heart problem while taking almost any psychiatric drug, including stimulants, can be life threatening and requires immediate intervention. A seizure, serious rash, headache, gastrointestinal problem, liver disorder, joint or muscle pain, abnormal bleeding, or treatment-resistant infection while taking almost any psychiatric drug is another signal for an immediate evaluation and may require cessation of the medication.
- What If Medicine Disappeared? by Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
- Available on Amazon.com

Obesity is now considered the main risk factor for most chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Some common antipsychotic drugs such as olanzapine (Zyprexa) can bring about a weight gain of 30 pounds in a short period of time. These drugs boost dopamine, the hormone that causes food cravings. This class of drugs also decreases levels of leptin, a protein that suppresses appetite. In other words, those who take antidepressants may develop an unnaturally strong appetite that they cannot control by eating more.
- Cancer Is Not A Disease - It's A Survival Mechanism by Andreas Moritz
- Available on Amazon.com

Sources for this story include:

Bloomberg.com: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601...

Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123570604586...