Renal Week Debates on Drugs and the Kidney

The kidney plays a key role in the metabolism and excretion of drugs and is quite vulnerable to damage from many classes of therapeutic agents. At the American Society of Nephrology’s Renal Week 2005, a two-day course has been developed to explore these issues. During this course, the renal interactions of acetaminophen (Tylenol®) and rosuvastatin (Crestor®) will be discussed and debated. Internationally renowned experts will review these drugs and their potential to compromise renal function.

Crestor®, rosuvastatin calcium, arrived on the U.S. market on August 13, 2003, after obtaining approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce LDL cholesterol. At that time, Crestor® joined five other statins on the market.

In March 2004, Public Citizen, a public interest organization headquartered in Washington, DC, petitioned the FDA to remove Crestor® from the market, due to reports of muscle and kidney side effects. In March 2005, after a year of careful review of the scientific data, the FDA denied the Public Citizen petition.

Edmund J Lewis, MD, Muehrcke Professor of Nephrology and Director of the Section of Nephrology, Rush Medical College will present one side of this debate: “The Benefits of Rosuvastatin Outweigh the Renal Risks” and Sidney M. Wolfe, MD Director, Public Citizen Health Research Group will counter with, “The Drug Should be Removed from the Market.”

The role of analgesic abuse as a cause of chronic renal damage has been debated for decades and the latest information will be reviewed in the same program, within a forum, entitled “Analgesics and the Kidney.” Participants include Monique M. Elseviers, PhD, University Antwerp, Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium (“Epidemiology of Analgesic Nephropathy 2005”); Marc E. De Broe, MD, PhD, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium (“Relevance of Analgesics as a Cause of ESRD”); Richard L. Clark, MD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (“Radiologic Manifestations of Papillary Necrosis”); and William L. Henrich, MD, FASN, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD (“Relevance of Analgesics as a Cause of ESRD”).

““Rosuvastatin is Safe and Beneficial for Patients” and “Analgesics and the Kidney” will take place during the Postgraduate Education Course entitled, “Renal Regulation and Nephrotoxicity of Therapeutic Agents: Updates, Controversies, and Debates” on November 8-9.

At another session during Renal Week, “Should We Be Using Calcium-Containing Phosphate Binders in CKD: ‘The Venus DeMilo Syndrome,’” nephrologists will debate the merits and dangers of calcium-containing phosphate binding agents in treating the secondary hyperparathyroidism and osteodystrophy of patients with renal damage. Uncertainty abounds as to the risks and benefits of those binders that contain calcium. Glenn M. Chertow, MD, UCSF Laurel Heights, San Francisco, CA will present one side of the debate and Eli A. Friedman, MD, SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY will present the other side on Saturday, November 12 from 4:00 pm–5:00 pm.

The ASN is a not-for-profit organization of 9,000 physicians and scientists dedicated to the study of nephrology and committed to providing a forum for the promulgation of information regarding the latest research and clinical findings on kidney diseases. ASN’s Renal Week 2005, the largest nephrology meeting of its kind, will provide a forum for more than 12,000 nephrologists to discuss the latest findings in renal research and engage in educational sessions relating advances in the care of patients with kidney and related disorders from November 8-13 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA.

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