Experimental GSK drug makes patients smell bad, fails to stop heart attacks

Monday, April 21, 2014 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: failed experimental drug, bad smell, heart attacks

(NaturalNews) In a failed attempt to plagiarize what nature already freely provides in the form of anti-inflammatory plants and herbs such as cannabis and turmeric, U.K.-based drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is now reaping the bitter harvest of bio-piracy after one of its experimental heart drugs turned out to be both useless and harmful, causing patients to emit a constant vile odor while on the medication.

The results of a Phase III clinical trial recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine revealed darapladib, once believed to be the most promising emerging therapy in GSK's drug pipeline, to be a complete failure therapeutically. Not only does the drug provide no actual benefits for heart patients, but it also puts them at risk of developing foul odors in their urine, feces and skin.

Dubbed by some in the media as GSK's "stinkbomb" drug, darapladib proved to be no better than a placebo at protecting patients with chronic coronary heart disease against cardiac events, despite company claims to the contrary. And worse is the fact that darapladib appears to poison the vital fluids of the body, releasing a dank stench that is sure to deter any rational person from agreeing to continue taking it.

According to the study, 15,828 patients with stable coronary heart disease were assigned to take either a once-daily 160 milligram dose of darapladib or a placebo. The researchers involved hoped to identify a significant reduction in coronary events among those taking the drug as opposed to the placebo, particularly in terms of myocardial infarction, stroke and ultimately cardiovascular death.

But no such benefits were observed, despite rigorous attempts by the GSK-backed team to arrive at such findings. On the contrary, those taking darapladib experienced a negligible overall reduction in cardiac events overall, while also having to deal with the added burden of a persistently foul bodily stench brought about by the drug.

"[I]n patients with stable coronary heart disease... [d]arapladib did not significantly reduce the rate of the primary end point of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke," wrote the authors in their conclusion.

GSK attempts to spin findings, claims darapladib is still effective even though it's not

Following the publishing of these unfavorable results, GSK immediately went into spin mode, claiming that darapladib is still a promising heart drug. GSK's CEO Andrew Witty, in fact, explained to reporters his belief that the findings show "interesting potential signals," a statement of pure derangement considering that no benefits were observed.

"No matter how badly a drug fails in Phase III, investigators and the companies that employ them often bend over backward to highlight any positive sign of efficacy, no matter how weak the signal," wrote John Carroll for FierceBiotech about GSK's position. "And GlaxoSmithKline's team at the American College of Cardiology meeting... was in full spin mode with their heart drug darapladib."

Carroll speaks, of course, of a recent meeting at which GSK tried to exaggerate the findings of the study to make darapladib seem promising, even though the data clearly show it is not. Still, GSK plans to move forward with further trials, obviously aware of the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) often approves useless and dangerous drugs when the right wheels are greased.

"It seems the pharmaceutical industry has found that creating a less 'useless' drug has potential to make them more money," wrote one mindful commenter over at FierceBiotech.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.nejm.org

http://www.reuters.com

http://www.fiercebiotech.com

http://science.naturalnews.com