For the seventh consecutive year, the independent French medical journal Prescrire has published its review of "Drugs to avoid, in the name of better patient care". This report identifies drugs whose dangers clearly outweigh their benefits and which ought to be avoided. The aim is to help healthcare professionals and patients choose high-quality treatments, first to do no harm to patients, and to minimise adverse effects.

Prescrire's assessment of the harm-benefit balance of a drug in a given situation is based on a rigorous, collective procedure that includes a systematic and reproducible literature search, identification of patient-relevant outcomes, prioritisation of the supporting data based on the strength of evidence, comparison with standard treatments, and an analysis of both known and potential adverse effects.

The 2019 update, published in the February issue of the French edition, covers drugs analysed over a period of 9 years, from 2010 to 2018, and includes 93 drugs (of which 82 are currently on the market in France) that are more harmful than beneficial in all the indications for which they have been authorised in France or in the European Union.

Three drugs that were listed in 2018 have been removed, while six drugs have been added.

The updated review will be published in English in the April edition of Prescrire International.

The French version is available for free download below.

©Prescrire 1 February 2019

"Pour mieux soigner, des médicaments à écarter : bilan 2019" Rev Prescrire 2019 ; 39 (424) : 131-141. (pdf, accès libre)

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