Medco Drug Interaction Study Summary
Jeff, Please consider posting the following along with follow ups I will send this
weekend. I send this along due to the fact I catered so many of Medco’s event prior to
them losing their CEO, due to him not letting Merck absorb them. And last time I went to
NYC I spent 8 hours next to an express scripts executive covered in Henna tattoos
informing me that I needed to place money in the stock... I did not, since I do not follow
business class seating advice(I am there for leg room no stock advice)... But I do love that
fact that all the time I spent in North Jersey at Medco and the feeling I got from working
with the peeps was a sense of integrity, it is a shame they are going to be controlled by
Express Script of NC....
onto:
It is a must that we all stand unified as "informed" for just one client if
not all
Most chiropractors engage clients long after they have started a process of westernized
cancer treatments, some are lucky to find out prior to their clients entering the process,
either way this is information you all need to know and share. I can and will follow up
with natural ways to support western cancer therapies. There is a path, a natural solution,
it is called, an informed conversation. We will not negate choice but we will embrace
will, will to be, will to proceed. Please engage, listen, cry, hug, encourage, inform,
remain consistent and present, that is the Chiropratical way of being.
Best in Health,
Peter Lambert, proud husband of Amy Burke
From Reuters 3/16/12 4:45 CET
Many patients taking a widely prescribed class of oral cancer drugs are also using a
variety of medications that could reduce the effectiveness of the cancer treatment or
increase its toxic side effects, according to research by Medco Health Solutions Inc.
For example, 43 percent of patients taking the highly effective leukemia drug Gleevec
were also on another medicine that could diminish its efficacy, while 68 percent were
taking something that could potentially raise the toxicity level, the study found.
Not surprisingly, the study found that the vast majority of the cancer drugs were
prescribed by an oncologist, while the other medicines were typically prescribed by a
primary care physician.
"More communication needs to take place across all doctors that are prescribing for the
patient," said Medco's Steve Bowlin, who is presenting the study findings on Friday at
the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics meeting in
Washington.
The Medco drug interaction study looked at pharmacy claims of about 11,600 patients
who had been prescribed any of nine oral drugs known as kinase inhibitors, used to treat
a variety of cancers. They include Gleevec and Tasigna from Novartis; Pfizer Inc's
Sutent; Nexavar from Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc and Bayer AG; Tarceva, sold by Roche
Holding and Japan's Astellas Pharma Inc; Sprycel from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co; and
GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Tykerb.
The medications that could potentially cause such adverse "drug-drug interactions" (DDI)
include commonly used heartburn drugs known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), such as
Nexium and Prevacid; steroids; a class of blood pressure and heart medications known as
calcium channel blockers; and some antibiotics and antifungal treatments.
At the high end of the range, 74 percent of patients who were taking Glaxo's kidney
cancer drug Votrient were also taking a drug that could increase toxicity, researchers
said.
Fifty-seven percent of Tarceva patients were also taking a drug that could weaken
effectiveness, more than for any of the other cancer treatments.
Sutent had the lowest incidence of potentially troubling drug interactions, with 23 percent
of patients taking a medicine that could decrease its effectiveness and 24 percent on a
drug that could increase Sutent's toxicity.
"The fact that one-quarter to 75 percent of patients on these oral drugs may not be getting
the full benefit of their treatment or may in fact be putting their health at further risk
because of another medication they are taking is concerning," Dr. Milayna Subar of
Medco's Oncology Therapeutic Resource Center said in a statement.
The PPI drugs for heartburn and acid reflux were the most likely to alter the effectiveness
and toxicity of Gleevec, researchers said. For the lung cancer drug Tarceva, steroids and
PPIs were most likely to decrease efficacy, while certain antibiotics were most likely to
increase toxicity.
Even though the Tarceva label cautions against using the antibiotic ciprofloxacin when
taking that cancer drug, the analysis found that the two were co-prescribed for a
significant number of patients.
"There are other therapeutic alternatives that could be prescribed that would not have the
same potential for interaction," said study co-author Eric Stanek, who called for increased
surveillance of patient prescribing.
The analysis also found that the overlap for patients taking one of the oral cancer drugs
and a medicine that could cause problems was rarely for just a day or two.
"In many instances, 30 or 40 percent of the time people were on a cancer drug they were
also on a DDI drug," Bowlin said. "On average, it was substantial amount of time."
Medco, a pharmacy benefit manager that is in the process of being acquired by rival
Express Scripts Inc, offers a Drug Utilization Review program under which its oncology
pharmacists can alert doctors about potentially troubling medication interactions.
-Peter Lambert
Amy Burke
Pantelleria, Italy
www.flourishnourishinpantelleria.blogspot.com
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