Researchers’ focus on drugs over other treatments ignores doctors’ and patients’ views

Researchers are choosing to investigate the effect of drugs on a range of common conditions despite evidence that patients and clinicians would like to see a greater focus on non-drug treatment options such as psychological therapies and educational interventions, a study has found.1

Incentives may be needed in the research selection process to ensure that the concerns of patients and clinicians are not ignored, the researchers said.

A previous study 15 years ago found that, although researchers prioritised drugs when assessing treatments for osteoarthritis of the knee, patients and clinicians would have liked to see more rigorous evaluation of non-drug treatments, such as physiotherapy, surgery, or educational and coping …