1/10 The statin drug Baycol made by Bayer was recalled in 2001 after a series of statin deaths from kidney failure following rhabdomyolysis (death of muscle fibres, debris from which blocks the kidneys). Bayer boasted that Baycol was THE most POTENT statin on the market.
2/10 They never warned that it was therefore the most potent blocker of cell cycles. The more potent the statin, the faster cell tissues and organs die. Fortunately, the problem was discovered early, otherwise a much larger number of people would have been harmed.
3/10 Bayer paid $8 million in a multi-state settlement to plaintiffs. The statin research scientists were fully aware of the fact that all reductase inhibitors i.e. statins, had those devastating effects on the biochemicals in the mevalonate pathway.
4/10 The risks of these drugs have been grossly understated and the benefits have been overstated. There is growing evidence that statins cause harm. The first statin (Triparanol) was withdrawn from the market after it was discovered by chance that employees had hidden
5/10 or falsified reports of disastrous effects in animal studies. The very fact that such adverse effects had occurred in both animals and, as subsequently found, in human beings, should have been enough to cause the FDA to call a halt to work in this field.
6/10 It was suggested in a record of the litigation that the Triparanol disaster was proof that the lipid hypothesis was wrong and that again should have ended the search for cholesterol lowering drugs of any kind.
7/10 Not only did that fail to happen, after a suitable pause other companies with their eyes on the $$$ chose to enter the game. Since all statins are extracted from toxic moulds and can therefore be classified as mycotoxins, and as they all act by the same mechanism
8/10 of blocking the mevalonate pathway at the start, it is difficult to understand why the regulatory authorities allowed work on these drugs to continue, and even encouraged the continued research and clinical trials.
9/10 One credible explanation is that certain leading scientists in the field who were working on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry were also advisers to the FDA and held positions with other influential bodies such as the National Institute of Health and the AHA.
10/10 Sadly nothing has changed since then. How may more years/people harmed before other statin drugs are pulled from the market ?
