The new BMJ series on therapeutics

Which drug to choose? As doctors, we all try to keep our patients’ needs, values, and expectations uppermost in decision making, as other parties jostle to influence our prescribing choices. Guideline bodies issue advice; authorities warn of cost; pharmaceutical companies ply us with their wares; new studies may throw accepted practice into doubt. Responding to its readers’ call for practical, evidence based advice, the BMJ is launching a new therapeutics series. Its last concerted foray into this field was a series called “New Drugs,” which ended in the 1990s. The new series will mostly cover drug classes used to treat common conditions and serious conditions with high morbidity or mortality, especially new drugs and old drugs with important new indications or about which controversy exists⇓.

Rational prescribing—that is, safe, effective, and cost effective prescribing—still requires evaluation of the potential benefits of treatment, ensuring that these outweigh any likely harm, and wherever possible tailoring the treatment to the individual …