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(CBS
3) PHILADELPHIA In an I-Team Investigation , the CBS
3 I-Team uncovers a disturbing problem that may be contributing
to the death of thousands of pets. The animals are dying,
sometimes at the hands of their unsuspecting owners.
Investigative Reporter Jim Osman exposes what could
make your pet severely ill, fits in the palm of your
hand.
One
particular dog's love and energy for years helped cheer
up dying and sick patients at hospices and nursing homes
in Allentown.
“It
was just amazing to see the look on their faces, they
were just so happy to spend that hour with that dog,”
said the dog’s owner.
On
visit days, Jetta had a big fan club.
“People
would sit on the sidewalk and wait and they would call
Jetta, Jetta, Jetta,” said the owner.
However,
it's what's inside these common pet pills that her owner
and even the government believe left Jetta unable to
answer the call any more.
“When
we were getting ready to take her, she had a heart attack
and she died,” explained the owner.
Jetta
had developed arthritis and a painful limp. A vet prescribed
deramaxx to combat it.
In
two days, the dog started having trouble.
“She
wasn't really eating or drinking, she was lethargic,
when the 2nd bloody bowel movement came, we were really
concerned,” said the owner.
Jetta
had side effects from deramaxx, side effects listed
on the drug company's web site.
The
problem was the owner says he never knew about any side
effects.
The
vet filed a complaint with the FDA and determined the
likeliness deramaxx contributed to the dog's death was
"high.”
“It's
common sense and common decency to let people know what
the side effects are of any drug their pet might take,”
State Senator Michael Stack.
Pennsylvania
State Senator Michael Stack wants a change in the law
to force vets to inform owner's of drug side effects.
It
is for good reason because, as the CBS 3 I-Team discovered,
FDA records show more than 3,000 dogs have died after
taking a variety of painkillers including deramaxx.
19,000
dogs have had adverse reactions to the meds.
It's
why Jetta's remains are in a box and why she's not running
around anymore raising the spirits of the sick.
“There's
no recovering, it's been such an emotional situation,”
said the owner.
We
contacted Novartis the maker of deramaxx and in a statement
the company tells Eyewitness News:
Deramaxx
has been safely and effectively used to treat more than
one million dogs for canine osteoarthritis .
Novartis
also says it provides vets with an information sheet
about the benefits and possible side effects of deramaxx,
so make sure your vet gives it to you.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
USA
TODAY DERAMAXX ARTICLE
Even painkillers for dogs have serious
risks
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY (link
to USA TODAY ARTICLE)
Like pain relievers for humans, pain relievers for dogs
are big business, improving the lives of millions.
And like pain relievers for humans, those for dogs have
led to heartache.
Pfizer
pioneered the market for dog painkillers when it introduced
Rimadyl in 1997. Nearly 15 million dogs have taken it,
many for pain from degenerative joint disease, or osteoarthritis.
Watch doses, interactions
Proper use of dog pain relievers lessens risks, but
proper use isn't always the norm.
Novartis
analyzed 1,680 Deramaxx adverse-event reports, including
1,257 osteoarthritis cases.
In
59% of osteoarthritis cases, dogs received doses in
excess of the approved dose.
In
28% of all the adverse events, the dog was also on another
drug, often aspirin. "This is a definite no-no
because mixing can cause serious adverse events,"
Novartis' David Stansfield says.
Dogs
should also be checked before and after receiving NSAIDs,
says veterinarian Wayne Randolph of Flemington, N.J.
Before he puts dogs on NSAIDs, he does blood work, involving
35 tests at a cost of $65, to check a dog's liver and
kidneys, and later repeats the blood work.
The
dog NSAIDs are FDA-approved to treat pain and inflammation
associated with osteoarthritis. Rimadyl and Deramaxx
are also approved to treat post-surgery pain.
Article
By Julie Schmit
Rimadyl now has four competitors with more likely. The
market for dog arthritis pain medications tops $130
million a year and is growing about 13% a year, consulting
firm Wood Mackenzie says.
But
3,200 dogs have died or been put down after taking the
drugs, Food and Drug Administration records show. Almost
19,000 dogs have had bad reactions to them.
The
FDA says the drugs are safe, if properly used. Drugmakers
say fewer than 1% of dogs have bad reactions to them.
If not for the drugs, many dogs might be put to sleep
sooner, they say.
"In
theory, the drugs are safer for dogs than aspirin,"
says Steve Marks, head of small-animal medicine at the
University of Illinois.
Yet
the deaths and other adverse events are a reminder that
all drugs pose risks, including those for animals. They
also underscore that a drug's risks may not be fully
known until the drug is widely sold, despite the FDA's
stamp of approval.
Several
million dogs received Rimadyl before its warning label
was updated to add mention of death in rare cases. No.
2 pain reliever Deramaxx was marketed for a year before
its label was so changed.
Despite
stronger warnings and other safeguards, the drugs continue
to create controversy. Some dog owners and veterinarians
say the drugs are being overprescribed
by vets who don't always give risk information to owners
and who, like doctors for humans, are often educated
on drugs by pharmaceutical companies.
"There
are no safe drugs. There are only safe doctors,"
says Robert Rogers, founder of the Critter Fixer Pet
Hospital in Spring, Texas. "The large number of
adverse events occur with these drugs because veterinarians
don't know how to use them." Drugmakers share the
blame, he says. Their sales representatives often fail
to present adequate risk information.
Adverse-event
reports
Through
November 2004, the FDA received almost 13,000 adverse-event
reports about Rimadyl, far more than for any other dog
pain reliever.
Pfizer's
database includes almost 20,000 adverse-event reports.
The FDA's data include those "possibly" or
"probably" linked to the drug. Adverse events
for all drugs are believed to be under-reported.
Pfizer
won't release Rimadyl's revenue, but it says Rimadyl
has the most reports because it's the oldest and biggest
dog pain reliever.
Deramaxx
has been used by about 1 million dogs since its
2002 launch, owner Novartis says. The FDA's data include
2,813 adverse-event reports for Deramaxx, including
630 dogs who died or were put down.
Rimadyl,
with a generic name of carprofen, originated at Roche
Laboratories as an anti-inflammatory drug for people.
Deramaxx was developed by Novartis for dogs but was
discovered by G.D. Searle, where Celebrex originated.
Both
Rimadyl and Deramaxx are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs, or NSAIDs, as is ibuprofen and aspirin for humans.
Deramaxx is also a COX-2 inhibitor, like Celebrex
and Vioxx, the pain reliever for people withdrawn from
the market in September because of heart attack and
stroke risk.
NSAIDs
cause many of the same problems in dogs that they do
in humans: Vomiting, diarrhea and ulcers are the most
common. Reports of heart problems associated with dog
NSAIDs are rare, the FDA says.
Before
getting FDA approval, Rimadyl was tested in 549 dogs;
Deramaxx in about 700. That's far fewer than the number
of subjects in clinical drug trials for human drugs.
Erectile dysfunction drug Cialis, for instance, was
evaluated in more than 4,000 patients before it got
FDA approval.
When
it hit the market, Rimadyl was heralded as a "wonder
drug" for freeing dogs from pain. Happy, bounding
dogs were shown on TV commercials. "No drug in
the history of veterinarian medicine has been met with
such instant success," says Steve Dale, host of
radio show Steve Dale's Pet World.
Rimadyl's
fast start had a dark side: Reports of dogs suffering
liver damage and other effects began pouring in. One
of those dogs was George, a 12-year-old chocolate Labrador
retriever owned by Jean Townsend of Johns Island, S.C.
She
saw the Rimadyl ads and asked her veterinarian whether
Rimadyl could help George, who, while seemingly healthy,
was moving slower. Rimadyl seemed to work, but after
several weeks, George sometimes couldn't move. He started
vomiting and had blood in his stool. Within 30 days
of starting Rimadyl, George was put down. An autopsy
showed liver damage, ulceration and bleeding.
Warning signs
What to watch for in dogs on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDs):
Vomiting
Diarrhea, black, tarry or bloody stools
Change in drinking or urination
Change in behavior, such as depression or restlessness
Yellowing of gums, skin or whites of eyes
Source:
USA TODAY research
"I had no earthly idea I was killing my dog,"
says the 68-year-old retired government worker.
Townsend
says she wasn't warned of the risks and didn't ask,
trusting her veterinarian. She refused Pfizer's offer
of $249 and filed a lawsuit in 1999 that was joined
by 300 others.
Pfizer
settled in 2003 to avoid costly litigation, it says.
Each plaintiff received about $1,000. Pfizer didn't
admit wrongdoing and says it informed the FDA of side
effects as soon as they were reported.
"We
were incapable of informing the world of what we didn't
know," spokesman Robert Fauteux says.
Pfizer
updated Rimadyl's label twice, the last time in 1999
noting that death occurred in rare instances. That year,
it stopped TV ads. Today's print ads include the death
warning.
Owners
don't always get info
Deramaxx
took a similar path. It went to market in 2002 with
a label saying the drug "was well tolerated"
with an adverse event rate comparable to dogs treated
with placebos. Once again, adverse events after the
drug was sold proved otherwise.
Both
drugmakers now issue information sheets for dog owners
describing the drugs' risks and proper use. Pfizer even
attaches the sheet to Rimadyl bottles. But it may not
get to consumers because veterinarians frequently repackage
drugs into smaller vials. Marks says risk information
is rarely discussed with clients. The FDA has said pet
owners often complain about not getting the sheets.
Pooter,
a 7-year-old black Labrador, went in for a checkup in
February, says his owner Vickie McCullen-Main, 52, of
Bethel Springs, Tenn. Pooter's veterinarian diagnosed
a respiratory infection, prescribed NSAID Metacam and
sent him home with a week's supply of Rimadyl and an
antibiotic.
The
doctor "never mentioned anything at all about the
risks," says McCullen-Main. Nor did he check Pooter's
blood to make sure he didn't have weaknesses that would
make him a bad NSAID candidate.
Pooter
started to drool, lost his appetite and bladder control.
Thirteen days after his checkup, he was put to sleep.
McCullen-Main says Pooter should not have received medication
for pain because, "He didn't have pain."
She
doesn't want Rimadyl or the other NSAIDs removed from
the market. She just wants people to know, "These
drugs have risks."
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