REPRESENTATIVE Stanley T. Torres yesterday said it was “hasty” for Dr. Richard Brostrom to conclude that metformin is safe to use and has actually saved many lives.
The lawmaker said Brostrom, medical director of the Division of Public Health, could not make such “safe finding” as there has been no thorough medical study conducted in the CNMI to conclude that the intake of metformin is safe.
But Brostrom, in a separate interview, expressed concern that Torres may be “causing unnecessary fear among diabetics who are taking this important medicine.”
“I know that (my) concern is shared by other physicians in the CNMI,” he added.
But Torres said Brostrom “can’t just make such conclusion when we don’t know the cause of death of patients in the CNMI who took metformin. Also, metformin sold as Glucophage carries a black box warning which is the strongest type of warning required by the Food and Drug Administration. The product labeling means it does not protect patients from preventable drug induced injury or death,” said Torres, R-Saipan.
Torres said the Feb. 2001 medical study published in the Australian Adverse Drug Reaction Bulletin revealed that since the approval of metformin in the country for the treatment of type 2 or adult onset, there have been 48 reports of lactic acidosis associated with the use of the drug.
“There was a study made in Australia before they came up with a conclusion that metformin is not a generic drug that is safe to use. Now, do we have a study in the CNMI to conclude that it is safe? have we autopsied the real causes and the complications of the deaths of individuals here who took metformin?” he said.
Based on a July 2001 study published by the U.S.-based Public Citizen/Health Research Group, lactic acidosis—which causes the fatal build up of lactic acid in the blood—can occur due to metformin accumulation during treatment with Glucophage or Glucophage XR, Torres said.
He said it was clear in the package insert for metformin that physicians and pharmacists are warned that metformin should not be used by patients with kidney problems, liver problems, heart failure that is treated with medicines such as digoxin sold as Lanoxin or furosemide, those who drink a lot of alcohol, those with serious dehydration problems, those who are going to have an X-ray procedure with injection of dyes and those who are going to have surgery.
