Since completing the analysis, Sipahi said he now thinks twice about whether to prescribe the drugs. Sipahi warned patients not to stop taking their drugs, and recommended they consult their doctor if they were concerned. According to studies run by the pharmaceutical, there was no link between increased cancer risk and Micardis.
The company claimed in a statement that it had 'internal safety data' contradicting the Lancet study. The maker of the most-used drug in the study, Boehringer Ingelheim, disputed the findings and said Micardis is one of the best-researched drugs worldwide. He said there wasn't enough information to know if this increased cancer risk disappears once people stop taking the medications. Sipahi and colleagues calculated that one extra cancer case will occur for every 105 people taking the medications for about four years. 'However, when you look at it from the population level, millions and millions of people are on these drugs and it can cause a lot of excess cancer worldwide.' 'The risk for the individual patient is modest,' said Sipahi, associate director of heart failure and transplantation at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland.
