The pharmaceutical drug, isotretinoin (which also goes under the alternative names Accutane, Roaccutane, Reticutan, and Rizuderm), in a drug used by conventional medicine for Acne. It is a dangerous drug. Even a single dose is known to cause severe birth defects, or even the death of a baby. The drug is also known to cause chelitis, epistaxis, hypertriglyceridemia, pruritis, xerosis cutis, decreased hel cholesterol, increasing liver enzymes, increased serum triglycerides, musculoskeletal signs and symptoms, dry nose, xeroderma and xerostomia.
Regardless of this harm it is still being used. It would appear that no drug or vaccine is too dangerous for conventional medicine to give to patients. Isotretinoin was first used in the 1930's, although it was developed by the drug company Hoffman-La Roche in the 1980's. The impact on pregnant women was known from the early stages of its development - but it did not stop its development, or indeed its sales. Indeed, it is estimated that over 13 million patients were treated with the drug.
I first heard about this drug in an article in WDDTY (What Doctors Won't Tell You) in March 2002, in which some of the drugs' long-term side effects were outlined. Then, two years later, in August 2004 WDDTY stated in another article that the drug could cause Guillain-Barre paralysis. Then, in October 2005, WDDTY wrote about the drugs 'ability' to cause birth defects. The information was taken from the journal of the AMA (the American Medical Association, 2005; 294: 1481). By this time, the ability of isotretinoin to cause birth defects had already known for over 20 years! Yet the drug was not banned, or withdrawn; but 'restrictions' and 'requirement' were put in place.
".. physicians who prescribe the drug to a pregnant woman must first sign a form called 'iPledge', while patients who want to take it while pregnant must sign an informed consent form and also obtain counselling about the risks of taking the drug. Wholesalers and pharmacies must also comply with special requirements before issuing the drug."
In 2009 Roche Pharmaceuticals discontinued the manufacture and distribution of Accutane, their version of the drug. This was not because of any concern for patients, but owing to the high cost of defending personal-injury lawsuits in the USA. They were okay with harming their patients; but not if the cost of denying the harm caused became too high. This approach encapsulates the business ethics of the pharmaceutical industry.
However, generic versions of the drug, such as Roaccutane, remained in use with patients. If a drug can be sold for profit, it will be sold, quite regardless of patient harm.
So the MHRA is taking action nearly 40 years after this drug was first introduced, but even now, the drug is not being withdrawn or banned - it is merely "a call for information".
"This review is being undertaken by the MHRA with advice from the Commission on Human Medicines and the Isotretinoin Expert Working Group due to concerns about the possible association between isotretinoin and suspected psychiatric and sexual disorders."
Suspected psychiatric and sexual disorders? Is this new then? Does conventional medicine give patients drugs like isotretinoin for nearly 40 years blissfully unaware that they cause 'psychiatric and sexual disorders'? It would appear to be so as websites like Drugs.com and RxList, even now, do not mention anything about 'erectile dysfunction' and 'reduced libido'.
Remember - this is the history of just one drug. But this is not untypical of the hundreds of pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines that have been withdrawn and banned over the years. And it will certainly not be untypical of the thousands of other pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines currently being prescribed today. The pharmaceutical medical establishment sells drugs, wherever and whenever it can. They are not, and never have been, deterred by evidence of patient harm.
So why should anyone believe that any pharmaceutical drug or vaccines, sold by drug companies today, are any safer or less harmful than these previously banned drugs?
Isotretinoin is just another dangerous drug.
