Osteoporosis News: Microchips, New Drug Warnings, And Thank You

Vivian Goldschmidt, MA Drugs News

Evidence-Based
4 min Read
osteoporosis news

A study published this month in the Science and Translational Medicine journal titled “First-in-Human Testing of a Wirelessly Controlled Drug Delivery Microchip” proudly announces success at delivering the osteoporosis drug Forteo (teriparatide) to post-menopausal women.1

The drug delivery can be either pre-programmed or triggered by remote control using a dedicated radio frequency. By replacing injectable drugs, this is viewed as an effective tool to increase patient compliance.

A pharmacy in a microchip!

Researchers for MicroCHIPS, Inc. Robert Langer and Michael Cima – both MIT professors – had been mulling this idea since the mid 1990’s. The four month-long clinical trial began on January 2011, when microchips with 20 doses of the drug Forteo (teriparatide) were implanted in eight Danish women. The size of a coin and wafer-thin, the device was implanted at a doctor’s office using local anesthesia.

In Langer’s own words,


”You could literally have a pharmacy on a chip.You can do remote control delivery, you can do pulsatile drug delivery, and you can deliver multiple drugs.”2

In my own words: “This is scary!” Not only because this technology basically leaves no choice to the patient, but also because of the choice of drug. In ‘The Forteo Mystery: What You Should Know About This Puzzling Drug', I write that the drug’s mechanism of action is not understood and that laboratory rats (but thankfully very few humans as of yet) developed osteosarcoma, a rare cancer and the worst potential side effect of this drug.

Technology and ethics aside, the question boils down to why is the mainstream scientific community ignoring the dangers of drugs. Can’t they see what’s really going on? Because this week there’s…

More bad news about the nefarious effects of prescription drugs

A study just published in the British Medical Journal concludes that taking only 18 sleeping pills a year increases the risk of death by 3.5 times as compared to not taking any.3

Commonly prescribed drugs such as Ambien, Lunesta, as well as barbiturates and sedative antihistamines were included in the study of 10,529 patients who took these drugs. Those who took more than 132 sleeping pills per year had a five-fold death risk increase and a 35% higher risk of cancer compared to the control group composed of 23,676 people.

These sad statistics are not due to pre-existing conditions. Quoting the actual published text,

“Results were robust within groups suffering each comorbidity, indicating that the death and cancer hazards associated with hypnotic drugs were not attributable to pre-existing disease.”3

And here’s what really surprised me. The researchers don’t end with the usual “more studies are needed to confirm this.”

Next, there’s more bad news about drugs, because a brand new study shows that…

Regular aspirin therapy greatly increases the risk of vision loss

A large study across Europe published on January 2012 in the Opthalmology journal found that two aspirins a day substantially increase the risk of wet macular degeneration, also known as aging macular disorder (AMD).4 More severe than dry macular degeneration, this condition is the number one cause of vision loss in adults over the age of 50.

Symptoms of advanced macular degeneration can end up in blindness. The disorder often starts with a dark area in the center of vision, resulting in difficulty reading, driving or performing other tasks, especially as the condition advances.

Dr. Paulus de Jong and team of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and Academica Medical Center in Amsterdam conducted the study of 4,691 participants aged over 65 years. They also noted that,

“Frequent aspirin use was associated with early AMD and wet late AMD, and the ORs rose with increasing frequency of consumption.”4

But aspirin therapy seems to “recover” quickly from negative reports. Previous studies – vigorously disputed by some – have shown that aspirin regimens may carry more risks than rewards.

And now, I’d like to end with…

A BIG thank you…

For opening up your heart to my son Michael, who has Juvenile diabetes, and to me as well. I’ve received many emails, cards, and even books about diabetes from Save Our Bones community members. Michael and I thank you and are truly moved by how much our community cares.

Indeed, both types of diabetes are a challenging condition. So if you or someone you know is struggling with Type 2 diabetes, please check out The 30 Day Diabetes Cure (Tip: you can click the ‘Read this Report Instead' at the bottom right of the webpage to read the video transcript). It offers a natural, realistic, and scientifically backed solution based on easy and common-sense nutritional and lifestyle changes.

Stay healthy, naturally!

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References

1 https://stm.sciencemag.org/content/early/2012/02/15/scitranslmed.3003276
2 https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/newsworlds-first-trial-on-drug-delivery-microchip-proves-successful/
3 https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000850.short?g=w_open_current_tab
4 Paulus de Jong et al. “Associations between aspirin use and aging macula disorder. Opthalmology. Volume 119, Issue 1, pages 112-118. January 2012.