Supressing and in some cases spinning the results of drug tests is dangerous to Americans and anyone else who uses the drugs. Let's not forget that this is another example of the Free Market Fairy letting us down.
Unfavorable drug studies don't get into print: report
Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:11am EST
By Gene Emery
BOSTON (Reuters) - Nearly a third of antidepressant drug studies are never published in the medical literature and nearly all happen to show that the drug being tested did not work, researchers reported on Wednesday.
In some of the studies that are published, unfavorable results have been recast to make the medicine appear more effective than it really is, said the research team led by Erick Turner of the Oregon Health & Science University.
Even if not deliberate, this can be bad news for patients, they wrote in their report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Of the 74 studies that started for the 12 antidepressants, 38 produced positive results for the drug. All but one of those studies were published.
However, only three of the 36 studies with negative or questionable results, as assessed by the FDA, were published and another 11 were written as if the drug had worked.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment