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Probiotics - Tested for Label Accuracy - surprising findings by ConsumerLabs.com

A Brief Probiotic Overview

This is a printout that I received from my nutritionist that she printed from the Consumer Labs website.  I do not have access to this site  and found this info helpful with choosing the Probiotics right for you.  So, sorry for the small print due to having to copy this info.  Hope it's readable and not too small.  If you can't read it, contact me and i'll e-mail you the original file.

The amount of Probiotic bacteria in the caps which is stated on the label by the manufacturer, is not the correct amount for most of the products tested.  How disappointing.  

Some of these products only provided 10% or 13% of the listed amount.  

PROBIOTICS TESTED FOR ACTUAL AMOUNT IN EACH CAPSULE

Permanent Optic Nerve Damage--> Thanks to Humira (aka Biologic Bull****)

I should probably create a page (when I make pages) that's titles "Lawsuits Due to Biologic Treatments".  This is like the 4th or 5th article i've posted in regards to biologic drugs producing long-term damage to someone.

The last paragraph of this article gets me.   "...Abbott downplayed the risk of Humira side effects, including the risk of Central Nervous System (CNS) demyelination, which can cause optic neuritis, transverse myelitis, multiple sclerosis or other nerve problems."  These aren't minor side-effects like dry mouth, these conditions will impact your life dramatically and forever.


 I wonder what other health risks Abbott Labs have downplayed.  Adding the nerve damage issues would just be a few more health problems that you risk developing by treatment with these biologic meds.  LOL when the freaking side-effect profile lists almost 100 possible negative consequences that may happen to you if your lucky, what's 105.  People must really be desensitized OR maybe patients trust their doctor and are completely clueless.  Unfortunately, to know all the important details of something, requires effort on your part.  You have to do your own research - Trust no one
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Vision Problems from Humira Result in Lawsuit Over Optic Nerve Damage - AboutLawsuits.com

Abbott Laboratories faces a product liability lawsuit over Humira, their blockbuster arthritis and Crohn’s Disease drug, which was filed by a woman who alleges that she has developed optic nerve damage and permanent vision problems from Humira.

The Humira lawsuit was filed by Jamie Bixby in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on May 20, 2011.

Bixby alleges that side effects of Humira caused her to develop optic neuritis, an inflammation of the optic nerve that has left her with permanent impairment to vision in her left eye and a future risk of other nerve problems, including multiple sclerosis or loss of vision in her other eye.

Humira (adalimumab) is a “biologic” drug, which is part of a class of medications known as TNF blockers or tumor necrosis factor blockers. The medication was launched by Abbott Laboratories in 2003 for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, but was subsequently approved for other indications, including treatment of Crohn’s Disease.

According to allegations raised in the complaint, Abbott downplayed the potential risk of Humira vision problems, despite the fact that information was available to establish notice that the drug may increase the risk of optic neuritis and other nerve damage from central nervous system (CNS) demyelination.

Bixby began using Humira in April 2008 for treatment of Crohn’s Disease, after her doctor suggested that the medication may be a better option than the long-term use of the steroid prednisone, which had been managing her symptoms. No warnings were provided on the drug label or prescription information that Humira may cause permanent damage to her vision at the time she began taking the medication.

In May 2008, Bixby indicates that she began experiencing severe headaches and pain in her left eye, which led her to call the toll free number provided with her Humira packet to ask if the problems may be related to the use of Humira. According to allegations contained in the complaint, Abbott’s nurse told her that eye pain was not related to Humira and suggested she contact her physician.

When Bixby contacted her doctor, she was told by the doctor’s office that they were unaware that eye problems were a known issue with Humira and scheduled an appointment for the following week. However, the next day Bixby noticed that the vision in her left eye became blurry with blacked out areas, causing her to leave work and seek immediate medical attention at an eye clinic.

Bixby was diagnosed with optic neuritis from Humira in both eyes, though she only experienced vision problems in her left eye. Following her diagnosis, Bixby was admitted for inpatient treatment to receive 4 days of intravenous steroids.

“Unfortunately, because Abbott had not adequately warned Ms. Bixby or her physician about the risk of optic neuritis, the diagnosis and treatment came too late to prevent permanent vision impairment for Ms. Bixby,” the complaint states.

Bixby previously worked as a web designer, and claims that she continues to suffer from headaches and eye pain that impact her ability to look at a computer screen for significant periods of time. She also continues to suffer blurry vision and black holes in the vision from her left eye, and has extreme light sensitivity and changes to her depth perception that affect her ability to drive or ride a bike.

Plaintiff alleges that Abbott downplayed the risk of Humira side effects, including the risk of Central Nervous System (CNS) demyelination, which can cause optic neuritis, transverse myelitis, multiple sclerosis or other nerve problems.

Generic Biological Drugs Coming-Awww, what a drag for Abbott, J&J, Amgen Inc.

Biological Drugs = The most costly drugs in the world.... Here's some good news though

Healthcare law to allow generic versions of biotech drugs

The development of 'biogenerics' is expected to put the brakes on the profit bonanza from such drugs as Abbott Laboratories' Humira.

By Bruce Japsen

June 2, 2011

In 2001, Abbott Laboratories spent nearly $7 billion on the biggest acquisition in the company's 123-year history, primarily to get access to one drug: Humira.

Since then, the North Chicago drug giant has raked in more than $24 billion in sales from Humira, a pricey medicine derived from human cells and used to treat a variety of autoimmune diseases. This year, Humira is forecast to have its biggest year ever, with some analysts projecting more than $7 billion in sales.

But the national healthcare law is intended to put the brakes on the profit bonanza from Humira, as well as many other biotechnology drugs, by opening up the sector to generic competition. That will make biotech drugs — also known as biologics, which are innovative treatments derived from living cells — affordable to more consumers.

Many patents on some top-selling biotech drugs will start to expire in the next few years. But when "biosimilars" or "biogenerics" will be available to U.S. consumers is unclear. The Food and Drug Administration is working on guidance on how the approval for this class of generic drugs will work.

"Biotech drugs are among the world's most expensive," said Sidney Wolfe, director of the health research group at Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog of the healthcare industry. "They have been good, but they have been expensive, so it is extraordinarily important to get biogenerics as quickly as possible."

The Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Obama in March 2010, clears a path for the FDA to approve generic forms of biotech drugs. Biogenerics have been unavailable in the U.S. because they were not part of the 1984 landmark Hatch-Waxman Act, which allowed for cheaper generic versions of chemically derived drugs.

Thanks to the 1984 law, consumers have access to generic versions of many blockbuster treatments, including the cholesterol drug Zocor and the antidepressant Prozac, which can cost $3 to $5 a day. The generic forms of those drugs typically cost pennies a day.

But biotech drugs weren't developed until the 1980s, when technology cleared the way for geneticengineering on DNA, allowing drug companies to rake in huge profits from this relatively new class of treatments.

Humira is a monoclonal antibody, hailed for its ability to work like a smart bomb because of its ability to precisely attack disease cells. Abbott says more than 500,000 people worldwide are taking Humira to battle a variety of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and psoriasis, often halting progression of the condition.

But the innovation has come with a price. Humira costs patients, their employers and health insurance companies about $20,000 for one year of treatment. Doctors say costs can run higher depending on the patient and dosage needed.

The anti-anemia drug Epogen can cost more than $10,000 a year per patient, and biologic medicines for cancer and other life-threatening diseases can cost tens of thousands, sometimes more than $100,000 a year.

Although biotech drugs are very expensive for consumers, they can pay off for drug companies.

When Abbott engineered its $6.9-billion acquisition of Knoll Pharmaceuticals, which developed Humira, Wall Street analysts and investors thought the company spent too much. The drug industry at the time often touted the cost of researching and developing one drug at $800 million or more.

Knoll provided Abbott with a host of products, including the popular thyroid treatment Synthroid and the diet drug Meridia, which had a few years of good sales before the FDA requested that the company take it off the market because of heart risks. When Abbott bought Knoll in 2001, which was before Humira won FDA approval, Knoll was generating about $2 billion in sales.

"They have more than recouped their investment," Wolfe said of Abbott.

Miles White, Abbott's chairman and chief executive, recently indicated that Humira would continue to be a blockbuster, given that its first patents don't expire for another five years.

"Humira has been a phenomenally successful product with application in a lot of different disease categories," White said at the company's annual shareholder meeting. "Humira's got long legs, out until about at least 2016, when its first patents begin to expire."

White is banking on all of the FDA-approved indications for Humira, which has held up against competition from rival rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's treatments derived from biotechnology, such as Johnson & Johnson's Remicade and Amgen Inc.'s Enbrel. The patent for Remicade also is expected to expire in the next few years.

"It is yet unclear what kind of competition we'll experience from biosimilars or the equivalent of generics at some point later in time," White said. "So I think some of the concern about Humira is exaggerated and overblown."

One primary obstacle that could delay entry of a Humira rival lies with the FDA. The agency said it was continuing to work on the regulatory review process, which will require clinical trials, unlike the process used to approve generic copies derived from chemicals.

Neither Abbott nor the FDA is aware of a company that has begun to work on a biosimilar version of Humira, but some companies are starting clinical trials of biosimilars of other drugs. Lake Forest, Ill.-based Hospira Inc., for example, is selling a biogeneric of Epogen in Europe and last year began clinical trials in 20 U.S. hemodialysis centers.

Some analysts think it will be difficult for companies to replicate biologics as easily as pills and capsules derived from chemicals. Biologics are more complex to make, and there are not enough makers to drive prices down to the 60% to 80% discounts that are common among chemically derived pills and capsules, some analysts say.

"When Humira loses patent protection in 2016, it may become an albatross similar to Pfizer's Lipitor,"Morningstar Inc. analyst Damien Conover said in a recent report, referring to the generic competition that Pfizer's cholesterol pill faces in November. "However, since we believe the drug's biologic composition will dilute the impact of generic competition, we project an immediate sales decline of 20% following the patent loss, instead of the typical 80% crash."

The Body-rejects medicine, non-tolerant of food, flares sporadically=MY BODY

FRAGILE, BREAKABLE,VULNERABLE, EASILY DISTURBED.     CALL IT WHAT YOU WILL.  
FYI - I PREFER AMY.  TRUST ME, I DON'T LIKE IT EITHER

I'm sick of searching and searching, always looking for something.  This is my cycle living with the Crohn with a mind of it's own!  It's a stubborn disease and is very hard to determine what actually brought on pain, increase in symptoms or even a flare.  It's all about trial and error.
I must say, you'll experience a lot more errors and it can change it's mind at any time (always have to keep that in mind)
Today, I'm sorry I'm negative and bitchin.   I should be starting the day with a  better attitude,and I will after I'm done ranting.
My hope was crushed again! I think I had a negative reaction to the LDN I started taking a little over a month ago.  My fragile body was accepting the ldn and it was helping me!!  I haven't taken the ldn in over a week because I don't want to be alone when I take it , just in case... ya never know. I also dont want to take another trip to the ER again, Oh.... & I'd like a doctor to oversee & prescribe LDN  for me.  Not  have all these clueless doctors.  I'm just frustrated w/ searching, finding, flopping, repeat  GRRRRRR.

I'm still hopeful and have faith that things will turn out positive, eventually.  Till then, I just need to shut the F up and get reading.      I think i'll get on that :)