Asthma UK Pushes Dangerous Drug Sold by 'Corporate Partner'

When charities take corporate money, it doesn't bode well for their clients.

by Heidi Stevenson

12 August 2010

Asthma UK complains that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has not approved the drug Xolair, generically called omalizumab, for use in children under age twelve. It is exceptionally expensive, noted for its dangers, and carries an FDA label warning that it has not been shown to be safe or effective in children under age twelve. Just who is Asthma UK really trying to help?

Asthma rates in children have skyrocketed in recent years. Fifty years ago, it was quite rare. As air pollution became commen, it was associated with dirty air. However, as smog was improved with changes in laws and improvements in vehicle exhaust, the rate of asthma kept increasing. In fact, the worse children's diets have become with the advent of the execrable modern diet, and the more medical treatment they've received, especially vaccinations, the rate of asthma has skyrocketed.

This is, of course, good news for Big Pharma, with its storehouse of drugs to treat a seemingly captive audience.

Asthma UK's Relationship with Big Pharma and Xolair's Marketer

Asthma UK is not ashamed of its association with Big Pharma corporations. They even promote it. While claiming that "Asthma UK is the voice of people with asthma in the UK," they also justify their "Corporate Gold scheme". Here's what their website says:

The Corporate Gold scheme has been developed to allow Asthma UK to work with companies with a commercial interest in asthma in true partnership. By creating this level playing field, every member enjoys exactly the same benefits, and the charity can demonstrate its impartiality and independence in a transparent way.

Level playing field? Level for whom? It certainly isn't for the asthma sufferers they claim to serve. Transparent? When trying to defend Xolair, why didn't Asthma UK point out that it gets financial support from Novartis, the company that distributes the drug in the UK?

Why Nice Refused to Approve Xolair for Children Under Age 12

Novartis produced a study purporting to show that its drug is safe and effective. We have seen just how self-serving Big Pharma companies can be in their pseudo-studies for drugs they want to market. Nice, fortunately, refused to accept the study because the sample size was too small.

Nice's Deputy Chief Executive, Dr. Gillian Leng, stated that all research associated with Xolair was considered:

This evidence demonstrates no proven reduction in hospitalisation rates, accident and emergency visits, unscheduled doctor visits or total emergency visits for children in this age group treated with omalizumab.

The committee found that omalizumab is only useful in reducing the rate of clinically significant exacerbations for children who had had three or more exacerbations per year.

We are unable to recommend that NHS funds be diverted to a treatment with such high costs which only provides very limited benefits for patients.

Keep in mind, too, that Xolair is very costly. Each injected dose costs £256.15, plus 17.5% VAT. It is injected every 2-4 weeks. There is a lot of money riding on this drug.

Asthma UK's Response

Asthma UK's Chief Medical Advisor, Dr. Mike Thomas, stated:

Hundreds of children across England with the most severe, allergic asthma will now be denied a pioneering treatment that could free them from crippling daily asthma symptoms, endless trips to hospital and huge amounts of time off school.

Those words sound impassioned and imply that Xolair will transform the lives of children under age 12. However, Asthma UK does not cite studies. It merely issues statements that sound like they're supporting the needs and rights of asthma patients.

Xolair's Risks

Xolair is not an innocuous drug. The FDA (US's Food and Drug Administration) is examining it for reported risks or heart and cerebrovascular disorders. By the way, the study that brought out the potential dangers was produced by Genentech, Xolair's manufacturer! That alone should raise significant concern about the drug.

Medscape reports a number of significant adverse effects, including relatively frequent headaches, sinusitis, and upper respiratory tract and general viral infections. In people with asthma, those are not minor concerns. Less frequent adverse effects include arthralgia, limb and general pain, anaphylaxis, angioedema, bronchospastic pulmonary disease (in ashmatics!), dizziness, earaches, fainting, fatigue, fractures, hypotension, malignancy, pharyngitis, and pruritis.

Asthma UK doesn't seem to be the least bit concerned about these effects, some of which are life-threatening. This is very much in line with its general attitude towards adverse effects. On their website, they state that standard asthma medications have "very few side effects", and that they are safe.

Severe and dangerous effects are minimized. For example, Cushing's syndrome is a very real and devastating effect of steroids that leads to heart attacks and causes uncontrollable weight gain in a rather bizarre pattern, resulting in enormously fat upper bodies, humps at the bottom back of the neck, and a characteristic moon face. This is described only as developing a "fattened face". The potential for causing diabetes is referred to as "uncovering a tendency to diabetes".

Who Is Asthma UK Supporting?

Asthma UK's incredibly positive spin on its association with corporations, to the point of calling it "Corporate Gold" leaves one to wonder just who they're trying to support. They claim that:

[T]he scheme gives those with an interest in asthma and the work of Asthma UK the opportunity to get a valuable insight into the inside track of the charity, its plans and upcoming projects, along with receiving regular and ad hoc information and updates on developments within the charity and the asthma world in general.

Big Pharma is being offered an inside track into the charity. Asthma UK should be acting as a gatekeeper between asthma sufferers and those who would profit off them. Instead, Asthma UK is offering the profiteers the gates to the kingdom.

Asthma UK lists the benefits of Corporate Gold as:

• sharing of knowledge and expertise
• sharing of plans at an early stage
• regular health-check meeting with the charity
• public Association with Asthma UK
• meet with Asthma Adviceline nurses
• access to and discounts on our patient information

Not one of these benefits is for people with asthma. Every single one benefits Big Pharma. For £10,000 a year, a major Big Pharma corporation can buy its way into Asthma UK and gain their support. If Xolair ends up being approved for children under 12 on the NHS, it will be obvious that it's money well-spent for Novartis. Frankly, Asthma UK seems to be selling itself quite cheaply.

What do you think? Click here to comment!