Drugs don't work: Top professor claims five in six new medicines have 'little benefit' to patients
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- Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:00:49 -0700 (PDT)
Drugs don't work: Top professor claims five in six new medicines have
'little benefit' to patients
http://www.dailymai l.co.uk/health/ article-1304118/ Top-professor-
claims-5- 6-new-medicines- little-benefit- patients. html
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:44 PM on 18th August 2010
Drug companies have been accused of conning the public by hyping up
patented medicines with little new to offer while downplaying their
potentially harmful side-effects.
A new study estimates that 85 per cent of new drugs offer few if any
new benefits while having the potential to cause serious harm due to
toxicity or misuse.
The author of the research delivered a damning attack on 'Big Pharma'
at a meeting of sociology experts in the US.
'Market for lemons': Professor Donald Light claims that five our of
six prescription drugs are not effective
'Market for lemons': Professor Donald Light claims that five out of
six prescription drugs are not effective
Professor Donald Light described the pharmaceutical industry as a
'market for lemons' - one in which the seller knows much more than the
buyer about the product, and takes advantage of this fact.
'Sometimes drug companies hide or downplay information about serious
side-effects of new drugs and overstate the drugs' benefits,' said
Prof Light, a professor of comparative health policy at the University
of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, US.
'Then, they spend two to three times more on marketing than on
research to persuade doctors to prescribe these new drugs.
'Doctors may get misleading information and then misinform patients
about the risks of a new drug. It's really a two-tier market for
lemons.'
He alleged that the pharmaceutical industry owned companies in charge
of drug testing and provided 'firewalls' of legal protection behind
which information about dangers or lack of effectiveness could be be
hidden.
Companies were assisted by the 'relatively low bar' for effectiveness
that had to be crossed to get a new drug approved, he claimed.
Prof Light presented his paper, entitled 'Pharmaceuticals: A Two-Tier
Market for Producing 'Lemons' and Serious Harm' at the American
Sociological Association' s annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
Read more: http://www.dailymai l.co.uk/health/ article-1304118/ Top-
professor- claims-5- 6-new-medicines- little-benefit- patients.
html#ixzz0x1lGEu sc
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