Osteopenia--a story of Evil...

I don't usually buy into the dichotomy of good vs. evil in the politics of food, medicine, energy, etc. But there is a stunning story on NPR today entitled "How A Bone Disease Grew To Fit The Prescription." It is a long article (or a 23 minute audio file if you choose to listen instead of read). But it is definitely worth reading!

Here are a few excerpts in case you are reluctant to commit to a long article:
"It's the story of how the definition of what constitutes a disease evolves, and the role that drug companies can play in that evolution. Osteopenia is a condition that only recently started to be thought of as a problem that required treatment. Until the early 1990s, only a handful of people had even heard the word. And to understand how osteopenia was transformed from a rarely heard word into a problem that millions of women swallow pills to treat, you need to go back to the beginning..."

"The question before the experts in Rome then was this: Since after the age of 30 all bones lose density, how much bone loss was normal? And, how much put women at risk and therefore should be considered a disease?...So there in the hotel room someone literally stood up, drew a line through a graph depicting diminishing bone density and decreed: Every woman on one side of this line has a disease."

"Cummings says to understand how so many women today are treated for osteopenia, look more closely at all the machines — both large and small — that Merck helped place in doctors' offices. "I think the critical event in turning ostoepenia into a condition that people believe needs treatment is the report that comes from the bone density machines," Cummings says."

So let me summarize: The drug company manufactured a drug (Fosomax). Then when the drug wasn't selling well enough, sold a machine to test women to see if they needed the drug. Then they manufactured and marketed a lower dose of the drug for women with essentially low normal bone density--women who "almost" had osteoporosis. But here is the real kicker if you still are not feeling like this is an evil plot...

A quote from a bone scientist in the article..."There was no difference in the number of [nonspine] fractures you had, whether you took the medicine or a placebo," says Ott. "It does make your bone density go up higher, but the number of fractures is what really matters, and that didn't really change"

That does it. I believe this fits the definition of evil. Read the article. It will really make you think about drugs differently.