News & Reviews

Health Highlights: July 22, 2004

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Despite Setback, Hope Yet for Alzheimer's Vaccine

Doctors are still holding out hope for an experimental Alzheimer's disease vaccine whose trial was halted two years ago because of dangerous side effects.

Despite that setback, experts found that the vaccine slightly stopped the decline in memory of Alzheimer's patients while the study lasted, the Associated Press reports. Researchers don't know whether that helped the patients in day-to-day function.

The experiment with the vaccine, produced by the Irish drugmaker Elan Pharmaceuticals, was halted in 2002 because 18 of the 300 participants developed severe swelling of the brain.

Still, experts are intrigued by the idea of having the immune system fight the disease. The vaccine is not meant to prevent Alzheimer's, but to treat it.

"I think there's a positive signal here," Sid Gilman, a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan, told the AP. He presented the findings Wednesday at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in Philadelphia.

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Crestor Maker Fights Back at Consumer Group

The maker of a cholesterol drug that has been under attack by a consumer watchdog group is fighting back and defending the medication.

AstraZeneca sent a 30-page memorandum to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strongly backing the statin, sold as Crestor, and urged the agency to ignore calls by Public Citizen to take the drug off the market.

The petition by Public Citizen's Health Research Group, filed in March, is inaccurate at best, according to the company. The group "has used unscientific information and unsound analysis to support its petition," AstraZeneca said in a statement.

For instance, the group alleged that a 39-year-old woman taking Crestor died of kidney problems and a muscle-wasting disorder called rhabdomyolysis. However, the company contends, the woman actually died of a heart attack, and had no sign of either rhabdomyolysis or kidney problems.

Public Citizen's petition is "based upon a number of unverified, unidentified, spontaneous post-approval adverse event reports, all of which have been previously reported to, and evaluated by, the FDA," AstraZeneca alleged.

For his part, Public Citizen chief Dr. Sydney Wolfe responded that he would still push for the Crestor ban, the AP reported.

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Asbestos Legacy Lives in Lung Illnesses

Asbestos hasn't been used regularly in the United States for years, but a new report finds that the material has a deadly legacy: Asbestos-related deaths continue to rise, and now surpass any other kind of workplace-related disabling disease.

The rise has been seen for the last 30 years, and officials don't know when the end will be in sight. In 1968, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 77 deaths from asbestosis were recorded. By 2000, the figure jumped to 1,493 deaths.

In the meantime, work-related lung disease from exposure to other materials has declined sharply, according to a report in the CDC publication Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The drop in deaths from coal dust, talc, and other hazards fell in the same time period, in part because of stricter laws and a decline in heavy industry.

Asbestosis mortality peaks between 40 and 45 years after exposure to the fibers. Use of the insulating material jumped during and after World War II, and declined substantially in the 1980s once its dangers became apparent.

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Boston Begins Bid to Buy Canadian Drugs

Boston has become the largest U.S. city to permit its employees to buy less expensive prescription drugs from Canada, the Boston Globe says.

Mayor Thomas Menino officially launched the program on Wednesday, permitting as many as 14,000 city workers and retirees to buy imported medicines from Canadian pharmacies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has declared the practice illegal, insisting that it can't control whether the imports are accurately labeled and contain the correct ingredients.

While other governments that have begun similar programs have cited millions of dollars in potential savings, Boston's move is seen as largely political, the newspaper reported. The city expects a relatively small number of its workers to participate, since the only incentive is the elimination of a $10 co-pay for those who buy their drugs from Canada. As a result, the city projects it will shave $1 million off its $60 million annual drug bill, the Globe reported.

Thanks to government price controls, Canadian drugs are 20 percent to 80 percent cheaper than their American equivalents, the newspaper said. This has lured smaller, often cash-strapped cities like Springfield, Mass., to sanction the purchase of Canadian drugs for their employees.

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Spike Seen in Job-Related Amphetamine Use

Job-related use of a powerful stimulant called methamphetamine surged 68 percent in 2003, according to Quest Diagnostics, a testing company that says it administered an industry-leading 7.1 million drug tests last year to workers and job applicants.

Often referred to as "meth," the synthetically produced amphetamine is on its way to becoming the illegal stimulant of choice, soon to surpass cocaine, according to a report by USA Today. The drug fights fatigue and offers a feeling of self-confidence without producing an aggressive high, the newspaper said.

According to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration figures cited by the newspaper, DEA meth lab seizures rose from fewer than 8,000 in 1999 to 10,000 last year.

A recent UCLA study found that regular meth users lose about 1 percent of their brain cells annually -- a loss comparable to that of an Alzheimer's patient, the USA Today account said.

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Calif. Clinic Charged in 'Rent-a-Patient' Scam

The three operators of a California medical clinic have been charged with what the Los Angeles Times is calling a "rent-a-patient" scheme that may have bilked insurance companies of more than $14 million.

From August 2002 to April 2003, prosecutors allege, as many as 5,000 people willingly had unnecessary procedures performed at the Unity Outpatient Surgery Center in Buena Park. Insurers were billed $97 million for the surgeries, of which they paid $14.2 million. The unneeded procedures allegedly included surgeries for hemorrhoids, pain management, and sweaty palms, the Times reported.

"It is hard to imagine anything more reprehensible than deliberately operating on healthy people solely to gain illegal profits," said District Attorney Tony Rackauckas in announcing the arrests of the three clinic owners, who range in age from 38 to 48.

The newspaper said Southern California has become an epicenter of such "rent-a-patient" scams, in which healthy people undergo expensive medical procedures in exchange for incentives like cash, vacations, and cosmetic surgery. This type of racket has cost insurers at least $500 million in recent years, the Times said.