Dr. Rath Research Institute

Patients taking pioglitazone (Actos) for more than a year may have an increased risk of bladder cancer, according to an FDA interim review of an ongoing epidemiological study.

Comments: Intermediate analysis of a proposed 10-year clinical trial involving the popular anti diabetic drug, Actos, has shown significantly increased incidence of bladder cancer among patients taking the drug. The increased risk was noted when Actos was used for more than one year and this study involves 193,099 patients with diabetes. The study is still underway and the manufacturers, Takeda pharmaceuticals, insist on completing 10-year analysis.

French regulators have already suspended Actos use and German authorities have discouraged starting new patients on Actos. Outside of the above-mentioned study, the FDA estimates that 2.3 million Americans who were prescribed Actos from January through October 2010 will also be at an increased risk, in addition to those who are already taking this drug. Imagine the number of increased cases of bladder cancer.

Avandia and Actos are similar drugs, and are members of same anti-diabetic drug family which was first introduced in the 1990s. Reports that Avandia increased the number and risk of heart attacks initiated a thorough review in this class of drugs. Actos was also recently found to increase the risk of congestive heart failure. In this particular article, the FDA has warned people taking Actos that if they are taking this for more than a year; they might be at an additional risk of developing bladder cancer. In 2010, the manufacturers reported that people taking Actos for the longest time and for the maximum dose may develop bladder cancer in the long run. However the current review suggests that even one year of Actos use considerably increases the risk of developing bladder cancer.

According to recent statistics, approximately 30 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes and close to 79 million are pre-diabetic. It is a lesser-known fact that between 2004 and 2009, more than 500,000 adverse reactions among people taking anti-diabetic drugs were added to an official U.S. Food and Drug Administration database.

Due to its effect on small blood vessels (micro-vascular complications), Diabetes is commonly associated with the development of heart disease, kidney failure, neuropathies, and cataracts. However, recent findings have forced scientists to look further into the diabetes and cancer connection. The cancers more at risk for men included colon, pancreas, rectum, bladder, kidney and prostate, while among women there was an increase in breast, leukemia and endometrial cancer. Bladder cancer is already the sixth most common cancer in the US. At this point it is not clear why Actos increases the specific risk of bladder cancer. Although a possible diabetes-cancer connection was suspected since the 1950s, more than sixty years later cancer and diabetes still remain among the topmost causes of deaths. Despite a wide array of therapeutic advances in both diseases, no cure is in sight for either. It may be possible that a diagnosis of cancer in a diabetic patient is clouded by a wide array of overlapping symptoms. Also heart and kidney complications in diabetes make the patient ineligible for harsh cancer treatments or the treatment of diabetes could be pushed to lower priority in a cancer patient.

Dr. Rath's innovative research has already proven a common root cause of many chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. According to Dr. Rath, nutrients such as vitamin C, proline, lysine, among others, support healthy collagen formation and long-term deficiency of these essential nutrients affect the stability and strength of underlying connective tissue, thereby promoting various diseases. Sugar and vitamin C molecules being structurally very similar compete with each other and thus vitamin C deficiency facilitates biochemical processes leading to high blood sugar in diabetes. Dr. Rath's clinical trials using vitamin C and combinations of specific synergistic nutrients in patients diagnosed with type II diabetes observed after six months, the normalization of blood glucose and HbA1C levels and even restoration of the blood flow in the previously affected limbs. Please read more about Dr. Rath's research in the book "Why animals don't get heart attacks...but people do!" and at www.drrathresearch.org

Source: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=117228