Washington – The Food and Drug Administration warned patients today that using large amounts of a Johnson & Johnson foot ulcer medication could heighten their risk of dying from cancer.
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The FDA added its most serious warning to the company’s cream medication Regranex, which is prescribed to treat severe foot and leg ulcers in diabetics. The new boxed warning states that patients who used three or more tubes of Regranex were five times more likely to die of cancer.
When patients used lower amounts of the cream, the FDA said their chances of developing cancer were no higher than patients who had never used the drug.
The findings come from a long-term study comparing 1,600 patients who took Regranex with 2,800 patients who did not, according to the FDA.
The label advises doctors to use caution when prescribing the drug to patients with malignancies.
Regranex is a man-made version of a substance produced by the human body that helps heal ulcers. Because the drug causes cells to divide more rapidly, the FDA said Johnson & Johnson closely monitored patients for reports of cancer, which spreads through uncontrolled cell division.
They are sick to sell this stuff, they should be sued. is it still on the market (over the counter, or prescription?) To give something that makes cells rapidly divide to a patient sounds like pouring gasoline on fire!?
Well, making cells divide faster allows your skin to heal faster. Some acne medications work on this principle. Anyway, using 1 or 2 tubes won’t kill you. It seems when cells divide the possibility for mutations increases, thus cancer. That is why people usually get cancer later in life, as their cells have gone through many divisions( and undergone environmental damage.)