Professor Agnes Kant understands that the use of the ‘revolutionary’ Ozempic is increasing. But what are the side effects?

Babies without hands. Or hands on the shoulders. Feet on the buttocks. Legs without feet. On October 1, 1957, the German company Chemie Grünenthal brought a sleeping and tranquilizer to the market that turned out to work particularly well against pregnancy sickness and would also be extremely safe. Three years later, more than ten thousand children were born in forty countries with Focomelie, a deformation of the limbs that was previously rarely seen. The cause was Thalidomide, the active substance in the drug, which was sold in the Netherlands under the name Softenon. Softenonbaby – The word is still in the Van Dale.

Since 1965, side effects have been registered nationally in the Netherlands and since 1996 this has been done by the Lareb side effects, where they are reported, collected and analyzed. Also side effects of vaccines, vitamin pills and other health products. And yet Agnes Kant, the director of Lareb, says that « in investigating, discovering, monitoring and preventing » side effects is « more possible ». It can and should be better, she thinks.

Agnes Kant (58), epidemiologist, promoted at the age of thirty in the Biomedical Sciences, has been special professor of Innovation Innovation of Pharmacovigilance at LUMC/Leiden University for a day a week since May last year. Pharmacon: Ancient Greek for medicines and poison. Vigilance: Latin for vigilance. At the LUMC she will investigate side effects. How can they be discovered faster? Who do they experience, who not, and why? Why do women experience on average more often than men? Which means are safe during pregnancy?

Friday she kept her inaugural speech,,  » Side effects are not a side issueand in it she said what she said as a member of the Lower House on behalf of the SP (and party leader from 2008 to 2010): that there must be a fund for independent research into the safety of medicines after they have been admitted to the market. And that fund can be filled by contributions from pharmaceutical companies. « They make the profits. They have no interest in that kind of research, but the social interest is high. » In this conversation, in Doesburg, where she lives, she says she has intended not to make any further political statements. « That doesn’t fit my role. But I wanted to get rid of it. »

We don’t know what happens at home, in the nursing home or during a hospitalization

In your inaugural lecture you said that 5 to 10 percent of all acute hospital admissions in the Netherlands are caused by the use of medicines.

« And those are just the side effects that we know and recognize, and that are registered, such as stomach bleeding by painkillers such as Diclofenac and Ibuprofen. We don’t know what happens at home, in the nursing home or during a hospitalization. »

You also told how things can go wrong if a side effect is not recognized.

‘Atiya Mohammad – she is a pharmacist, just promoted in Groningen – describes in Her dissertation A 71 -year -old woman who received a means against high blood pressure from her doctor. After a few weeks her ankles got fat and the cardiologist gave her something against edema. Because she had to pee all the time, the urologist gave her something against incontinence. As a result, she suffered from a dry mouth and then the doctor gave her something to stimulate saliva production. Eventually she fell and she had to be admitted, probably because of the accumulation of side effects. « 

You want to do more research into everything women take on resources during pregnancy

“Drugs prescribed by a doctor and self -care products that you can buy at the drugstore. We do not yet know from 70 percent if they are safe during pregnancy, and whether despite the Softenon affair. I find that incomprehensible. And we can start tomorrow, because we have a national pregnancy register in which all information is kept about medication and their baby’s, also, also, also their baby’s, also, also their baby’s and their baby’s. financing for. ”

You expect a side effect and you really experience it. In communication that is quite difficult

Do you receive reports about Ozempic and other slimming agents?

« Ozempic is a drug against diabetes, isn’t it. In diabetes patients it has been used for about seven years now. But since it became a hype on social media because you lose weight, use has increased enormously. I understand it, it is revolutionary. The reports we receive are about extreme dehydration. People can do such a lot. Ozempic-Face get with those floating cheeks. Sometimes they end up in the hospital with dehydration symptoms and have to go to the drip. Pancreatitis is also reported. Stomach and intestinal complaints have been a well-known side effect from the start. I would like to follow people who get Ozempic or related resources for a longer period of time. How often do which side effects occur? What is the course? If how stressful are they experienced? ”

Conversely, people get complaints by reading package leaflets.

“The nocebo effect, yes. You expect a side effect and you really experience it. In communication that is quite difficult. For example, muscle pain is a known side effect of statins, a much prescribed agent for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. But naming muscle pain as a side effect can provoke nocebo effect at the same time. Sometimes you can help. « 

And side effects of vaccinations?

« The attention for this has increased enormously in the coronation time. »

At the time you came to the news to say that you had received more than a thousand reports about menstrual problems.

« But then it was still unclear whether it was a side effect of the vaccination. I just had enough time to say that there was no risk of infertility, extensive research had already been done. I wanted to lose that message. And I wanted to show that we took the complaints seriously and that we were going to look closely at the reports.

« Of course a few thousand reports were added the next day, but you want that too. In the end we had seventeen thousand – longer or shorter cycle, severe bleeding, things like that – and after thorough analysis we concluded that we thought it was a possible side effect of the coronavaccins. Ultimately, it had to be recorded from the EMA Medicines. »

Independent science threatens to lose simplistic, viral lies

The US Minister of Health says that vaccinations against childhood diseases cause autism.

« People are flooded with these kinds of nonsense stories, yes. For me, that is the reason to maintain an independent information provision. That we can say: look, here in the knowledge base on our site you can find what science says about vaccinations and menstruation, infertility or autism. People are entitled to know that or not yet. is unfortunately uncertain at the moment. ”

And the vitamin pills and other health products are you also busy with that?

« We get reports about the strangest products, for example about alkad crawles that would restore the acid base balance in your body, a kind of sink extractor. A boy of two has left a seriously burned esophagus on it. His grandmother thought she gave him vitamin D. Such a thing: vitamin B6. Fingers is now set for how much B6 can be done in a food supplement.

In the meantime, influencers continue to recommend anything.

« It is too simple to say: people should not be influenced. Stories and myths have always played a role and everyone can be influenced. Our brain works just like that. What the Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari writes about it in that Nexus Was very enlightening for me. I devoured his book. The mechanisms are of all times, he writes. But now social media have been added, with the corresponding revenue model. They strengthen it and that makes it really dangerous. The independent science, which requires complexity and nuance, threatens to lose simplistic, viral lies. « 

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