Re: heart damage-studies-edited

[gwcmpbll <gwcmpbll@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

dbs, sinament, and permax work for me. they took me off permax 3 years ago.
tried all the others. disaster. get by now with a 10/100 every two hours and
four 50/200 cr's.
i am 57 years old. too young to take a chance? at some point i would take
the permax and watch the heart like they watch my liver now. gwc
----- Original Message -----
From: "Beverly Bashe" <bevb16@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 11:55 AM
Subject: Re: heart damage-studies-edited


> This is very worrisome for us, because David has taken permax for many
> years.  I'd be interested in the dosage used in the trials, because he's
> on
> a relatively small daily dosage.  It's the one drug that has helped his
> cognition, and doesn't seem to have any other side effects.  He's so
> sensitive to meds, that it makes me shudder to even think of putting him
> on
> something else.  The dr. tried Requip, but that was a disaster.  What to
> do?
>
> Bev
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "M.Schild" <mmoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 2:04 AM
> Subject: heart damage-studies-edited
>
>
> > Sorry, the first version went off without editing :-(
> >
> >
> > BOSTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Two Parkinson's disease drugs cause the same
> > kind
> > of heart damage that led to the withdrawal of the diet drug combination
> > "fen-phen," according to two studies published on Wednesday.
> > Patients taking the drugs pergolide, developed by Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY.N:
> > Quote, Profile , Research) and sold under the brand name Permax, and
> > cabergoline, developed by Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N: Quote, Profile , Research)
> > and
> > sold under the brand Dostinex, had a sharply higher risk of heart valve
> > damage than those taking other therapies, the studies said.
> > The studies, one of which analyzed the records of 11,417 patients in
> > Britain
> > and one of which tested 245 patients in Italy, reinforce the results of
> > earlier, smaller studies showing that drugs which activate a cellular
> > receptor known as 5-HT2b can cause damage to the heart valve, a serious
> > condition that can lead to heart failure and sudden death.
> >
> > "We recommend that physicians not prescribe drugs that have this
> > biochemical
> > property," said Bryan Roth, a researcher at the University of North
> > Carolina,
> > Chapel Hill, who was not involved in the trials but viewed the data and
> > commented on it in The New England Journal of Medicine, where both
> > studies
> > appeared.
> > Such drugs also include the migraine headache drug ergotamine and the
> > amphetamine derivative known as "ecstasy."
> > Roth said his team, in a separate piece of research that has yet to be
> > published or reviewed by the scientific community, has identified several
> > other big-selling drugs that have until now not been known to activate
> > the
> > 5-HT2b receptor.
> > He declined to reveal the names of the drugs until the research has been
> > published.
> >
> > "We recommend that every drug be screened at this receptor before it goes
> > into humans," Roth told Reuters in an interview. "It costs just pennies
> > per
> > drug for such a screen."
> > The British study showed that patients taking pergolide were 7.1 times
> > more
> > likely to develop heart valve damage than those who took other
> > treatments.
> > Patients taking the highest doses of the drug had a 37 times greater
> > risk.
> > The study showed that patients taking cabergoline were 4.9 times more
> > likely
> > to develop heart valve damage. At higher doses patients were 50.3 times
> > more
> > likely to suffer damage.
> > Both drugs are available in generic form.
> >
> >
> > A second study, conducted in Italy, tested 245 people, of whom 155 had
> > Parkinson's disease. Of the diseased population, one group received
> > pergolide, one group received cabergoline, and one group received an
> > alternative Parkinson's treatment. The non-diseased control group
> > received
> > nothing.
> > The results showed that 23.4 percent of patients taking pergolide and
> > 28.6
> > percent of patients taking cabergoline suffered heart damage, compared to
> > just 5.6 percent in the control group.
> > "These are huge risks," said Roth. He said they were similar to the kind
> > of
> > damage seen with fen-phen, whose main ingredients were withdrawn in 1997
> > and
> > forced the drug-maker Wyeth (WYE.N: Quote, Profile , Research) to take
> > more
> > than $21 billion in charges to cover liabilities.
> > Wyeth's recalled drugs were fenfluramine, or Pondimin, and
> > dexfenfluramine,
> > or Redux. To make fen-phen, one or the other was combined with another
> > drug
> > called phentermine that is still sold by other companies.
> > Wyeth, then called American Home Products, recalled Pondimin and Redux
> > after
> > some of the 6 million Americans who had taken fen-phen developed
> > heart-valve
> > problems.
> > Roth said pergolide is also used to treat restless leg syndrome, a
> > condition
> > in which patients feel a crawling sensation in their legs combined with a
> > need to move them.
> > (Additional reporting by Ransdell Pierson in New York)
> >
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