Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Batteries? No, this has nothing to do with batteries!
...Unless it could be filed under 'keep your batteries going, even into old age'!
Another interest of mine is 'alternative health' - the following is extracts from an email I received this morning. The sender wanted to give it more publicity... I am trying to do my small bit.
Just one question... does the self interest of pharmaceutical/drug companies make YOU see red?
***
Now for the extracts... my comments are in italics, the extracts from The Peoples Doctor are in quotes...
"I'm raging, fuming and full of contempt for the well established and very wealthy drug company Gene Tech.
Once again the riches to be gained from people's suffering have been put before the immediate needs of the patient, i.e. delivering the best treatments at an affordable price!
I couldn't believe what I saw on GMTV this week about the poor souls that suffer from a condition called Age Related Macular Degeneration who were being denied an effective and powerful medicine to treat the condition."
[I could easily believe it, sadly, everything you hear about these days points to the greed and underhand methods of the drug companies in their search for total power.]
"But before I address that issue, let me tell you a little bit about Age Related Macular Degeneration.
People, often over the age of fifty five, can suffer from blurry vision and have problems reading, driving and watching television.
Cataracts and glaucoma are possibilities but very often it is found to be Age Related Macular Degeneration also known as ARMD. If it is not treated it can easily deteriorate into blindness.
It is thought that ARMD is caused due to 'wear and tear' changes in the macular region. It is also thought that waste materials from this very active part of the eye build up as the mechanisms for removing them become less able. This causes damage to the cells over a period of time and subsequently impaires vision and eventually leads to blindness.
What is interesting to note however is that the macula, the centre of the retina, has a pigment called lutein. This protects the macula from strong forms of light such as the sun's UV rays and damage to the macular by the waste materials produced by the eye.
A US government sponsored study has shown that increased lutein levels improved the sight of those with ARMD and that it offers significant protection to eye if present in sufficient quantities..
Anyway back to my rant....can you imagine my shock and sheer despair when I learned over the last week that the Primary Care Trusts (PCT) have refused to prescribe a new wonder drug, Lucentis, as it's far too costly. The National Institute Of Clinical Excellence had already declared the drug as the perfect treatment for the condition.
Why is it so expensive? Ask the manufacturers, Gene Tech.
They already had a product called Avastin on the market which was initially used for cancer of the colon. However Professor Philip Rosenfeld, an incredibly resourceful American Ophthalmologist, realised that Avastin had properties that could be used for eye conditions.
AND JUST GUESS WHAT HAPPENED?
When Gene Tech became aware of this, they decided to re-market Avastin as Lucentis at a vastly inflated price which the medical community now say treatment will cost them more than $1,000 per day instead of only $ 20 per day when it was marketed as Avastin. The bottom line is that the PCTs won't prescribe Lucentis to ARMD patients because of the cost and they can't prescribe Avastin for these eye conditions because the drug company won't let them. Madness!
BUT THE PATIENT WILL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH ?
I've been following the saga of Lucentis licensing and prescription for the last twelve months or so, and I'm very pleased to tell you that you can take steps to protect your eyes with lutein which can be found in some foods - spinach, greens and egg yolks. It has been shown that people with a high dietary intake of these have a 60% less chance of developing ARMD. I appreciate that not everyone would like to live on a daily diet of spinach, greens and eggs and during my extensive research I've discovered a product called Vision Clear.
It's cheap, affordable and extremely effective in that it provides the correct daily dose of lutein to protect the eyes and specifically the Macula from the harmful effects of the sun's UV rays and modern living. Lutein's efficacy is backed up by the highly respected clinical trials website 'Bandolier' which states that a number of trials confirm its effectiveness." [The original email gives you a link here.]
"So, it would seem there are alternatives out there and evidence to support the fact that they can be used to protect your eyesight. I just wish I could tell more people. " [This is what I am trying to help with... if you have a blog, please help too.]
"Sorry for the rant, but I think you can see the reasons why I sometimes get so disillusioned with the powers that be... I just worry about the patients that are once again needlessly suffering because of NHS bureaucracy and the pharmaceutical industries need to make a quick buck.
I think there needs to be serious changes in how PCTs are run and manage their budgets if patients are to receive the level of treatment they expect and deserve."
"Dr. Bruce Caine
The Peoples Doctor"
[I know ALL about this as my son used to be employed by a hospital... he now works for an Agency instead, doing the same job. But all the PCTs do is employ more and more managers and fewer and fewer actual health staff - or cleaning staff, for that matter. They close local facilities... and then say we have more choice! If there is anyone out there who approves of the job they are doing - except the managers - I have yet to hear of them.]
The following is a useful link to The Peoples Doctor - where you can subscribe to the free newsletter. You will also find details of Vision Clear and many other useful links on the page... check it out, you've nothing to lose... except perhaps your patience with the way the NHS is being run!
Another interest of mine is 'alternative health' - the following is extracts from an email I received this morning. The sender wanted to give it more publicity... I am trying to do my small bit.
Just one question... does the self interest of pharmaceutical/drug companies make YOU see red?
Now for the extracts... my comments are in italics, the extracts from The Peoples Doctor are in quotes...
"I'm raging, fuming and full of contempt for the well established and very wealthy drug company Gene Tech.
Once again the riches to be gained from people's suffering have been put before the immediate needs of the patient, i.e. delivering the best treatments at an affordable price!
I couldn't believe what I saw on GMTV this week about the poor souls that suffer from a condition called Age Related Macular Degeneration who were being denied an effective and powerful medicine to treat the condition."
[I could easily believe it, sadly, everything you hear about these days points to the greed and underhand methods of the drug companies in their search for total power.]
"But before I address that issue, let me tell you a little bit about Age Related Macular Degeneration.
People, often over the age of fifty five, can suffer from blurry vision and have problems reading, driving and watching television.
Cataracts and glaucoma are possibilities but very often it is found to be Age Related Macular Degeneration also known as ARMD. If it is not treated it can easily deteriorate into blindness.
It is thought that ARMD is caused due to 'wear and tear' changes in the macular region. It is also thought that waste materials from this very active part of the eye build up as the mechanisms for removing them become less able. This causes damage to the cells over a period of time and subsequently impaires vision and eventually leads to blindness.
What is interesting to note however is that the macula, the centre of the retina, has a pigment called lutein. This protects the macula from strong forms of light such as the sun's UV rays and damage to the macular by the waste materials produced by the eye.
A US government sponsored study has shown that increased lutein levels improved the sight of those with ARMD and that it offers significant protection to eye if present in sufficient quantities..
Anyway back to my rant....can you imagine my shock and sheer despair when I learned over the last week that the Primary Care Trusts (PCT) have refused to prescribe a new wonder drug, Lucentis, as it's far too costly. The National Institute Of Clinical Excellence had already declared the drug as the perfect treatment for the condition.
Why is it so expensive? Ask the manufacturers, Gene Tech.
They already had a product called Avastin on the market which was initially used for cancer of the colon. However Professor Philip Rosenfeld, an incredibly resourceful American Ophthalmologist, realised that Avastin had properties that could be used for eye conditions.
AND JUST GUESS WHAT HAPPENED?
When Gene Tech became aware of this, they decided to re-market Avastin as Lucentis at a vastly inflated price which the medical community now say treatment will cost them more than $1,000 per day instead of only $ 20 per day when it was marketed as Avastin. The bottom line is that the PCTs won't prescribe Lucentis to ARMD patients because of the cost and they can't prescribe Avastin for these eye conditions because the drug company won't let them. Madness!
BUT THE PATIENT WILL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH ?
I've been following the saga of Lucentis licensing and prescription for the last twelve months or so, and I'm very pleased to tell you that you can take steps to protect your eyes with lutein which can be found in some foods - spinach, greens and egg yolks. It has been shown that people with a high dietary intake of these have a 60% less chance of developing ARMD. I appreciate that not everyone would like to live on a daily diet of spinach, greens and eggs and during my extensive research I've discovered a product called Vision Clear.
It's cheap, affordable and extremely effective in that it provides the correct daily dose of lutein to protect the eyes and specifically the Macula from the harmful effects of the sun's UV rays and modern living. Lutein's efficacy is backed up by the highly respected clinical trials website 'Bandolier' which states that a number of trials confirm its effectiveness." [The original email gives you a link here.]
"So, it would seem there are alternatives out there and evidence to support the fact that they can be used to protect your eyesight. I just wish I could tell more people. " [This is what I am trying to help with... if you have a blog, please help too.]
"Sorry for the rant, but I think you can see the reasons why I sometimes get so disillusioned with the powers that be... I just worry about the patients that are once again needlessly suffering because of NHS bureaucracy and the pharmaceutical industries need to make a quick buck.
I think there needs to be serious changes in how PCTs are run and manage their budgets if patients are to receive the level of treatment they expect and deserve."
"Dr. Bruce Caine
The Peoples Doctor"
[I know ALL about this as my son used to be employed by a hospital... he now works for an Agency instead, doing the same job. But all the PCTs do is employ more and more managers and fewer and fewer actual health staff - or cleaning staff, for that matter. They close local facilities... and then say we have more choice! If there is anyone out there who approves of the job they are doing - except the managers - I have yet to hear of them.]
The following is a useful link to The Peoples Doctor - where you can subscribe to the free newsletter. You will also find details of Vision Clear and many other useful links on the page... check it out, you've nothing to lose... except perhaps your patience with the way the NHS is being run!
Labels: Age Related Macular Degeneration, alternative health, ARMD, batteries, drug companies, pharmaceutical
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