Dunno, mate

doi:10.1136/bmj.39276.621065.34

BMJ 2007;335:160 (21 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.39276.621065.34

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Dunno, mate

Ike Iheanacho, editor, Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin

iiheanacho@bmjgroup.com

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Having produced a new treatment, drug companies take great careto avoid testing it too exhaustively in patients. Now, suchan assertion would provoke howls of protest from the drug industry,which would no doubt point out just how much clinical researchit does (lots) and contrast this with the amount of non-industrydevelopment of new drugs (very little).

While some of this counter-argument is half true, it doesn'talter the fact that too much essential information about manynew drugs is missing when these products appear on the market.A simple demonstration of this fact involves subjecting examplesof new drugs to two simple questions. Firstly, have they beendirectly compared with standard comparator treatments in appropriatelydesigned trials? Secondly, does the available research allowconfident prediction of the effects (both helpful and harmful)of the drugs in patients from the general population, particularlyin the long term? The . . . [Full text of this article]