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Spotlight

Every month, the subjects in Prescrire’s Spotlight.

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Spotlight

100 most recent
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Drug residues in water: the pharmaceutical industry haggling over their removal

Editorial Among various European directives on water pollution, the revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive came into force in early 2025. The pharmaceutical industry is seeking to dodge its obligations.
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1 November 2025

Gefapixant (Lyfnua°) in refractory or unexplained chronic cough

Marketing Authorisations Gefapixant, an antagonist of the purinergic receptors P2X3 and P2X2/3, has been authorised in the European Union for use in adults with refractory or unexplained chronic cough. Does gefapixant alleviate the symptoms or complications of chronic cough? Does it stop patients from coughing or reduce cough frequency? And what are its adverse effects?
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1 November 2025

Alectinib (Alecensa°) as first-line treatment in advanced or metastatic ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer

Marketing Authorisations The initial marketing authorisation for the use of alectinib in patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer harbouring an ALK mutation was based on the preliminary results of two comparative randomised trials, called "Alex" and "Alur". More results from these trials, with longer follow-up, have become available since the evaluation published in our French edition in 2018.
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1 November 2025

Semaglutide (Wegovy°) in excess body weight: sometimes useful for patients who also have a history of cardiovascular disease

Marketing Authorisations The glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist semaglutide was authorised in the European Union in 2021 for use in certain patients with overweight or obesity. At that time, in the absence of the results of the ongoing "Select" trial evaluating the effect of semaglutide versus placebo on the cardiovascular complications of excess body weight, it was preferable that these patients not count on this drug and that the focus be placed instead on a comprehensive (non-pharmacological) approach. Results from the Select trial were published in a scientific journal in 2023, and then presented in Prescrire International. In 2024, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which have access to far more data than those presented in medical journals, published their public reports on the Select trial online.
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1 November 2025

Drug-induced impulse control disorders: an insight into the devastating effects on patients' lives

Adverse Effects An analysis of reports of adverse drug reactions involving pramipexole or aripiprazole, recorded in the US pharmacovigilance database, showed that 7.5% and 4.5% of reports, respectively, included an impulse control disorder such as pathological gambling, hypersexuality, impulsivity, compulsive shopping or hyperphagia.
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1 November 2025

Clinical evaluation of medical devices: as of 2025, progress is difficult to ascertain and weaknesses persist

Outlook The reforms culminating in the 2017 Medical Devices Regulation did not take into account the calls from Prescrire, among others, for the creation of a European Medical Devices Agency.
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1 November 2025

Victims of health products: a European opportunity to be seized

Editorial The 1985 Product Liability Directive established the rules to be followed by member states of the European Union regarding the liability of health product companies when a safety issue arises with their products. The new 2024 version of this directive is more favourable to the victims of such products.
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1 October 2025

Bedaquiline (Sirturo°) in first-line treatment for pulmonary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Marketing Authorisations During the initial evaluation of bedaquiline in patients with pulmonary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, the main trial had shown bacteriological efficacy, but also higher mortality. Since then, several randomised trials in hundreds of patients have shown that, compared with the drug combinations previously recommended by the WHO, the use of combinations including bedaquiline make it possible to shorten the duration of treatment by several months, while providing similar bacteriological efficacy and resulting in similar mortality.
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1 October 2025

Insulin icodec (Awiqli°) in type 1 or type 2 diabetes

Marketing Authorisations Insulin icodec is a long-acting analogue of human insulin, designed for once-weekly subcutaneous injection. It differs from human insulin by a few amino acids and the addition of a fatty acid to one of the insulin chains. It has been authorised in the European Union for use in adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Does insulin icodec represent a therapeutic advance over the long-acting insulins available for once-daily use?
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1 October 2025

Caftors: liver function abnormalities and possibly cataracts in breastfed infants

Adverse Effects In 2024, a French team reported elevated plasma levels of liver enzymes, and sometimes bilirubin, in 3 exclusively breastfed infants whose mothers had taken the combination of ivacaftor + tezacaftor + elexacaftor throughout pregnancy and continued treatment while breastfeeding.
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1 October 2025

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