MedEffect e-Notice from Health Canada | Risk of Immune-Related Kidney Inflammation

Drug trials aren’t working. On September 18, 2018, Health Canada released a MedEffect Notice for atezolizumab, sold as the brand name Tecentriq. Tecentriq is a cancer immunotherapy drug recommended for lung and bladder cancer patients whose diseases progressed after treatment with platinum-containing chemotherapy. Tecentriq falls under the Health Canada category of biologics/vaccines and may cause the immune system to attack healthy cells and tissues, creating organ damage and malfunction. Warnings about Tecentriq are being sent to the public and health care providers because, as of May 31, 2018, 28 cases of immune-related nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys caused by immune system disorders) have been reported, with 13 confirmed by biopsy. Health Canada is working to change the product monograph to include the new warning information but has no plan to make the product safer.

Read the original September 2018 MedEffect Notice

This safety notice draws attention to the way Health Canada facilitates a long line of pharmaceutical solutions for each drug that makes you sick. Natural alternatives to chemotherapy, like intravenous vitamin therapy, are safe, but are not presented as options to patients. The standard of double-blind studies is producing drugs that harm Canadians, but Health Canada still holds it in the highest esteem, pushing NHPs further into the margins.

Read Shawn Buckley’s latest discussion paper to learn more about Health Canada’s expensive and prohibitive approval process and the solution that NHPPA is fighting to bring into law to save access to natural health products.

Read more about Tecentriq, including the many known serious side-effects, as provided by the manufacturer.