Bitter Pills:Medicines & The Third World Poor | Page 239

Chapter 6 Silverman, Lee and Lydecker, Prescriptions/or Death, The Drugging of the Third World, University of California Press, 1982, pp.44-58. 51 Dr. D. M. Burley, personal communication, 21 May 1981. 52 - DrSayeedHyder(ed), The Prescriber's Guide, '79, June 1979. Dose: Adults 1-2 tablets thrice daily (250 mg clioquinol x 6 / 1500 mg daily x 7 / 10.5 gms.) "An investigation by Professor Tadao Tsubaki established that 96 per cent of the SMON patients in the sample had taken oxyquinoline. He also found that neurological symptoms generally began to appear when a total dose of 10 to 50 grammes had been reached, and that the time span between the taking of oxyquinoline and the beginning of neurological symptoms was 50 days at a daily dose of 600 mg and 30 days at a daily dose of 1200 mg oxyquinoline, that a larger dose tended to produce a more severe patho-logical picture." (Hansson, op.cit.) 53 - TheLancet, Editorial28May 1977:.."thecompaniesdenythattheneurologicaldamage from clioquinol is a serious risk outside Japan. This denial is unconvincing because cases of clioquinol damage have been observed outside Japan, and identical abnormalities of the nervous system have been reproduced in animals." The Lancet, 2 September 1978: "A quiet change in the indications is not enough. Drug regulatory authorities, manufacturers and distributors... should now emphasise to the public that these drugs should no longer be used for... non-specific diarrhoeas." (From: Social Audit leaflet on clioquinol: "Bad information means Bad Medicine..", 1981.) 54 Mr A. Wahid, Managing Director of Fisons Bangladesh quoted in "Crisis in the Drug Industry", Robbar, 1 June 1980, Dacca - cited by Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury, "Essential Drugs for the Poor: Myth and Reality in Bangladesh", paper presented at the Primary Health Care Symposium, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, 13-16 April 1982. (mimeo) 55 Prof. G. Peters, University of Laus anne, "Information and Education about Drugs", in Blum et al. (ed), op.cit., pp.105-106. 56 Mohammed Nurul Alam, Marketing Manager, Fisons (Bangladesh) Limited, in interview with the author, 26 September 1980. 57 Ferguson, 2-7 December 1980, op. cit., p.9. 58 Ibid., pp. 15-16. 59 British National Formulary, 198-1, op.cit., p.201. 60 H. R. Gribbin, S.G. Flavell Matts, "Mode of Action and Use of Anabolic Steroids", The British Journal of Clinical Practice, Vol. 30 No. 1, January 1976, pp.3-9. 61 Ibid. 62 Parish, op.cit., p.201. 63 British National Formulary 1981, op.cit., p.201. 64 Gribbin, Flavell Matts, op.cit., p.9. 65 Text of advertisement distributed in Bangladesh. 66 Dr. Martin Schweiger, Rangpur Dinajpur Rehabilitation Service, personal communication, 28 September 1980. 67 Organon (Bangladesh) Limited, Therapeutic Index, undated. 68 ABPI 1979, op.cit., p.73O. 69 Dr. R.T. Bloemen, Organon, personal communication, 21 December 1981. 70 "Organon Product Safeguards" re: Orabolin tablets and drops. The revised therapeutic index has not been received at the time of going to press, June 1982. Four months after Organon advised us of their intention to revise the entry for Orabolin, we were informed: "The entry 232