Jawbone Rot And Snapping Thighbones: Rare Side Effects Scare Women Away From Beneficial Drugs
Patients have been abandoning traditional osteoporosis drugs because they are terrified of the side effects associated with them. Doctors and researchers, however, say those are extremely rare and are frustrated that many bone fractures could be avoided if the fear factor surrounding the drugs wasn't so pervasive.
The New York Times:
Fearing Drugs’ Rare Side Effects, Millions Take Their Chances With Osteoporosis
Millions of Americans are missing out on a chance to avoid debilitating fractures from weakened bones, researchers say, because they are terrified of exceedingly rare side effects from drugs that can help them. Reports of the drugs’ causing jawbones to rot and thighbones to snap in two have shaken many osteoporosis patients so much that they say they would rather take their chances with the disease. Use of the most commonly prescribed osteoporosis drugs fell by 50 percent from 2008 to 2012, according to a recent paper, and doctors say the trend is continuing. (Kolata, 6/1)
In other pharmaceutical news —
The Wall Street Journal:
Medivation Sets Wednesday As Cutoff For Vote On Sanofi’s Proposal To Remove Board
Medivation Inc.’s shareholders as of close of business Wednesday will be able to vote on Sanofi SA’s proposal to replace the oncology drugmaker’s board. San Francisco-based Medivation set Wednesday as the so-called record date, hours after the French pharmaceutical company pressed forward its $9.3 billion hostile takeover bid. The biotech company has rejected Sanofi’s offer, calling it “substantially inadequate and opportunistically timed” and filed a revocation solicitation with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Armental, 6/1)
