Dr. Blumsohn Shines His Bright Light On This Troubling Situation And Provides A Lengthy List Of Recent Blog Posts About Zetia And Vytorin
(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)
Over at the Scientific Misconduct Blog, Dr. Aubrey Blumsohn has posted an article, "Ezetimibe - where are our medical journals?", which makes one wonder if Zetia and Vytorin are getting off easy in the medical journal world.
From Dr. Blumsohn's Jaunuary 11, 2008 post on Zetia (ezetimibe):
The huge ethical and scientific problems with the drug Ezetimibe have been discussed widely in the lay press (especially in the New York Times). The problems have been discussed by patients, on the internet and in the blogsphere. However as of today, a search of our key medical journals reveals no hint of any ethical discussion. No discussion of the principles of good science. Not even a worthy news report. Nothing at all.
- The British medical Journal : No discussion
- The Lancet: On 24 November 2007 in the midst of the saga, the Lancet published a review entitled "The safety of statins in clinical practice" Jane Armitage, Vol. 370, Issue 9601 Pages 1781-1790. There was no relevant discussion or associated editorial in that issue or in any subsequent issue.
- NEJM: No discussion
- JAMA: No discussion
Dr. Blumsohn then contrasts this "silence" in the medical journals to the discussion of these problems with Zetia and Vytorin duting the last few months in articles by bloggers who write regularly about medical and pharmaceutical topics. His list of 35 blog posts includes our earlier article, "Cholesterol Drug Zetia May Cause Serious Liver Injury Including Hepatitis And Liver Failure".
And to Dr. Blumsohn's list of recent blog articles about this troubling situation we can add "Behind The Curtain: That Secret Vytorin Panel", which was posted by Ed Silverman at his Pharmalot blog on January 11.
We close with this observation by Dr. Blumsohn:
One wonders how long our key medical journals will retain any credibility as honest impartial portals for discussion of science and the principles of good medicine.
Of course, we will continue to watch for developments concerning Zetia and Vytorin.