While the FDA continues to restrict claims of "curing, treating, or preventing disease" to drugs only, drugs continue to kill and send people to the hospital every day. Most experts agree that the current estimate of drugs killing over 550 people a day is low. In addition to killing people, they send over 5,500 to emergency rooms every day. Add to that the fact that they cause cancers and other diseases that take a toll on people around the world that conceivably stretches into the millions. Here's a recent study published in Science Daily that demonstrates that over 15 million Americans are taking diabetes drugs that are known to cause cancer - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120813115424.htm


"Diabetes is one the most common chronic diseases worldwide, affecting 285 million people. There are many factors clinicians must weigh in deciding which drug to use to control a patient's diabetes, and these new data provide important information to include in that decision-making process," said the study's lead author, Ronac Mamtani, MD, an instructor in the division of Hematology-Oncology in Penn's Abramson Cancer Center. "Our study shows that doctors who care for patients with diabetes should be very aware of any bladder-related symptoms patients might be having, like blood in the urine, and take steps to further evaluate those issues."

Though most patients in the United States no longer take Avandia since it was linked to severe cardiovascular problems, Actos is the ninth most commonly prescribed drug in the nation, accounting for some 15 million prescriptions each year. The drug is a common choice when Type 2 diabetes patients' illnesses can no longer be controlled with the first-line diabetes drug Metformin.

Based on previous data examining safety risks among patients taking Actos, the FDA has already warned that it may be associated with a risk of bladder cancer, and France and Germany have removed the drug from their markets. The new findings add to mounting evidence against the entire class of TZDs, as one of the first studies examining this type of risk among people taking both types of TZDs and among those taking sulfonylurea drugs."

From a study published in the Oxford Journal - http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/08/08/jnci.djs328