Anthony Almada12.01.10
Setting: What’s My Evidence? multivision game show, LifeSci Network, 19 February 2011.
Nancy Meek, Show Host: “Welcome back to another episode of What’s My Evidence! The object of our game is to discern which of our three contestants—leaders of different nutraceutical companies—has product claims that are verifiable and substantive. Our celebrity expert is tasked with the challenge of determining who has the real evidence to substantiate claims. This week’s expert is Ms. Traci Garrett, who has a Masters degree in Nutritional Sciences and has been a co-investigator on more than 50 clinical trials with nutraceutical compositions. She is the founder and past CEO of Orthogen, a medical foods company, and is on the Expert Ad Hoc Nutraceuticals Advertising Review Panel of the Multiverse Trade Commission. Let’s extract the evidence!”
Ms. Garrett: “Contestant 1, you have two claims that are quite intriguing: ‘Repairs cartilage and slows down joint aging.’ Wow. I want some of that. My husband and 13-year old dog want some of that, too. What evidence do you have in humans?”
Contestant 1: “Ms. Garrett, we have done three university studies to support this claim. Our first study we did with mice, showing that our ingredient, Chondrocept, was able to reduce knee joint erosion in mice that were injected with a chemical that triggers arthritis. In our first human study we had 32 subjects with arthritis of the knee take either Chondrocept or a placebo for 12 weeks. We measured joint pain, mobility and how many flights of stairs they could walk two days in a row, every four weeks. We also measured inflammation markers in the blood. Chondrocept was significantly superior to placebo in all of the weeks, for all of the physical measures at every four-week interval, and at week 12 for the inflammation markers. In our most recent human study we enrolled 48 persons with chronic knee arthritis and over a period of six months they took Chondrocept or Malgex, a prescription anti-inflammatory drug that has been shown to reduce the destruction of joint cartilage in multi-year studies. At six months the same physical measures we measured in our first clinical study had improved in the Chondrocept group to the same degree as in the Malgex group, and those receiving Chondrocept had less gastrointestinal symptoms and less symptoms of fatigue. All of our studies have been published in peer-reviewed journals.”
Ms. Garrett: “Contestant 1, so those three studies are the extent of the basis for your claim? [Contestant 1 nods affirmatively and confidently]. What I’m confused by is the absence of any evidence that actually measured the cartilage volume and distribution in the knee joints of osteoarthritis patients in your two human studies. Improved measures of pain, mobility and repeat stair walking endurance are nice for a patient—or clinician—but they are not indicative of actual joint repair. Aspirin or acetaminophen can improve these scores but we know that neither drug repairs joints. Moreover, deceleration of ‘joint aging’ cannot be captured in a six-month study. Your mouse study is intriguing in relation to Chondrocept’s ‘joint repair’ activity, but it is in…MICE, and over a four-week period. In reviewing your website and marketing materials I confirmed that you do not sell a chow or supplement for mice or rats. Lastly, your two clinical studies, though published, appeared in a peer-reviewed journal started and owned by a dietary supplement company. I’ve made my decision on Contestant 1, Nancy.”
Nancy Meek: “Thank you, Ms. Garrett. Contestant 2, what’s YOUR evidence?”
[TO BE CONTINUED]