Pfizer drug can cause heart failure. Gee, ya think?

From the non-news that's news' department, Reuters reproted on a study that showed that ~15% of patients who took Sutent, a kidney and cancer drug, developed heart failure. Dr Melinda Telli presented information on 48 patients who took Sutent at an American Society of Clinical Oncology. You'd think this was new information the way it's being reported (WaPost, CNNMoney, ETC). Of course, if anyone had been reading the label of the drug, they'd find this under 'Precautions':

In the two MRCC studies, twenty-five patients (15%) had decreases in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) to below the lower limit of normal (LLN). In GIST Study A, 22 patients (11%) on SUTENT and 3 patients (3%) on placebo had treatment-emergent LVEF values below the LLN.

and in bold

Physicians are advised to weigh this risk against the potential benefits of the drug. These patients should be carefully monitored for clinical signs and symptoms of CHF while receiving SUTENT.

First question: Why do this study? Did the researcher never read the label which referred to a much bigger study with the same finding?

Second question: Why is anyone reporting on this non-news? "Drug. heart-failure. must print." Thankfully, not everyone is (Kudos to NYTimes, USAToday, LATimes, ChicagoTrib).

Tags

More like this

Crap like this is why such a large amount of Americans have a problem trusting medicine.

Each substance that enters the body is processed by the liver and any drug is considered "foreign" and has side effects. The therapeutic effects of the drug should then be much greater than the side effects.

Every bit of distrust in medicine is earned, IMO. Sure, I use conventional medical care, but I rarely act on the proposed treatment until I verify and learn more, understand it myself, and actually believe that the doc is right. My big fear is something urgent suddenly happening, and not having the time (or presence of mind?) to do some research or at least get a second opinion. But the majority of healthcare is for non-urgent things.

In fact, perhaps more people should distrust medicine, or at least be skeptical, more informed, and asking questions. But it seems most people think their own docs are great; it's the other poor saps who get lousy care. Ya think?

Hey just stopping by to get my dose of green info. Always good stuff here! Love it. I know I have mentioned this site before but I think they are pretty cutting edge so I wanted to share this page: http://www.earthlab.com/articles/EarthsVitalSigns.aspx.

I was hoping that someone could drop me a link of other reports that might tell us about how much time is left before we cant fix global warming? EarthLab.com has a pretty could article here but I want some other opinions. Man just think how the bad will be if we dont prevent this. EarthLab has quite a few tips on how to lower your impact, here is a spot where they list what their readers recommend: http://www.earthlab.com/life/tips.aspx.

Thanks a lot for all your info and drop me a link if you guys see anything on these subjects.

Yes this being news is stupid. But it's never stupid to replicate a study. Especially when the only studies of a drug are done by the people selling the drug.

Gee I think there are a bunch of idiots giving other idiots money to study what is already known to be harmful.

Would be nice if money were put into a study that would actually be beneficial.

Hey like, maybe if the money was used to supply food banks with produce, and whole grains and beans, it might actually effect the rate at which heart disease is killing poor people. Maybe many other disease too, ya think?

Hey a study like that might actually convince folks who have a choice, to eat better!

Great news and great work guys.I really want to congratulate for your work.Keep posting us this type information.We really look forward to your post.

Would like to thank the site owner. really made a good site eokul but I can not see the turkey, please, say school e okul eklermisin them. Hallo e mezun ve ayrıca kolejler de e-okul mevcuttur yani