In its July 27 print edition, Time magazine ran a full-page color ad for smokeless tobacco. But what really got our attention were all the drug ads, which continue week after week, and presumably keep the faltering publication alive. The biggest ad, an inside-front-cover three-page spread, was for Xeljanz (tofacitinib citrate), which is aimed at people with rheumatoid arthritis.
As usual, the lawyers for the drug company had provided plenty of warning. Xeljanz “may increase your risk of certain cancers [such as] lymphoma, and well as reduce your white or red blood cell count, opening you up to serious infection.” These are not theoretical risks. The friend of an ANH-USA board member very quickly died from lymphoma caused by the drug, and taking such drugs significantly reduces a patient’s life expectancy.