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| Chief medical officer calls for review after statins and Tamiflu storm | Chief medical officer calls for review after statins and Tamiflu storm |
| (about 17 hours later) | |
| The chief medical officer, Sally Davies, has requested an expert review to shore up public confidence about the safety and effectiveness of medicines, in the wake of controversy around statins and Tamiflu. | The chief medical officer, Sally Davies, has requested an expert review to shore up public confidence about the safety and effectiveness of medicines, in the wake of controversy around statins and Tamiflu. |
| Davies wrote to ask the Academy of Medical Sciences if it would undertake the work. “I am very concerned about the lack of resolution of the statins and side-effects issues in both the medical and general press,” she said. | |
| “Coming on top of the debate about Tamiflu and the response to the ONS [Office for National Statistics] study on medication levels, there seems to be a view that doctors over-medicate, so it is difficult to trust them, and that clinical scientists are all beset by conflicts of interest from industry funding – and are therefore untrustworthy too. It cannot be in the interests of patients and the public’s health for this debate to continue as it is.” | “Coming on top of the debate about Tamiflu and the response to the ONS [Office for National Statistics] study on medication levels, there seems to be a view that doctors over-medicate, so it is difficult to trust them, and that clinical scientists are all beset by conflicts of interest from industry funding – and are therefore untrustworthy too. It cannot be in the interests of patients and the public’s health for this debate to continue as it is.” |
| She had “reluctantly come to the conclusion that we do need an authoritative independent report looking at how society should judge the safety and efficacy of drugs as an intervention,” she said in her letter to the academy’s president, Sir John Tooke. | She had “reluctantly come to the conclusion that we do need an authoritative independent report looking at how society should judge the safety and efficacy of drugs as an intervention,” she said in her letter to the academy’s president, Sir John Tooke. |
| There has been concern in some parts of the medical profession and the public about the widespread prescription of statins, which lower cholesterol. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended that anybody with a 10% risk of developing heart disease in the next 10 years should take them – guidance that led to a fierce public war of words between doctors over the interpretation of the evidence. Critics of statins say the benefits do not outweigh the potential harm of side-effects. | There has been concern in some parts of the medical profession and the public about the widespread prescription of statins, which lower cholesterol. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended that anybody with a 10% risk of developing heart disease in the next 10 years should take them – guidance that led to a fierce public war of words between doctors over the interpretation of the evidence. Critics of statins say the benefits do not outweigh the potential harm of side-effects. |
| Other scientists have been investigating the trials used to license the antiviral drug Tamiflu. The Cochrane collaboration, together with the British Medical Journal (BMJ), campaigned for years to get access to the detailed trial results and last year published their findings, saying that the drug did not reduce hospital admissions or the complications of a flu bout. | Other scientists have been investigating the trials used to license the antiviral drug Tamiflu. The Cochrane collaboration, together with the British Medical Journal (BMJ), campaigned for years to get access to the detailed trial results and last year published their findings, saying that the drug did not reduce hospital admissions or the complications of a flu bout. |
| The academy has appointed Sir Michael Rutter, a former vice-president and professor of developmental psychopathology at King’s College London to head the working group that meetson Wednesday to scope out the review. | The academy has appointed Sir Michael Rutter, a former vice-president and professor of developmental psychopathology at King’s College London to head the working group that meetson Wednesday to scope out the review. |
| News of Davies’ move comes ahead of a BBC Radio 4 programme looking at questions over the efficacy of alteplase, a clot-busting drug given to patients within hours of a stroke. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority has set up a working group to look at the evidence from trials of the drug. Concern was originally raised by Roger Shinton, a stroke specialist, in a letter to the Lancet medical journal. | News of Davies’ move comes ahead of a BBC Radio 4 programme looking at questions over the efficacy of alteplase, a clot-busting drug given to patients within hours of a stroke. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority has set up a working group to look at the evidence from trials of the drug. Concern was originally raised by Roger Shinton, a stroke specialist, in a letter to the Lancet medical journal. |
| The BMJ, which published the papers critical of both statins and Tamiflu, is campaigning against over-treatment of patients by their doctors. Its Too Much Medicine campaign is intended to draw attention to the potential for harm as well as the waste of resources involved in over-medicalisation. | The BMJ, which published the papers critical of both statins and Tamiflu, is campaigning against over-treatment of patients by their doctors. Its Too Much Medicine campaign is intended to draw attention to the potential for harm as well as the waste of resources involved in over-medicalisation. |