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Drugs in 2004: irresponsible risks being taken

Drug regulatory agencies must not lower their standards for new medicines in response to the lack of therapeutic advances.

The giant pharmaceuticals companies, which have concentrated for too long on short-term profits, are now failing to come up with new drugs that represent real progress. The drugs they are offering, usually in fields where there is already adequate treatment, represent virtually no benefit for patients. Instead of redirecting their research and development efforts towards needs that are not yet covered, in particular neglected diseases in poor countries, the pharmaceuticals industry in recent years has behaved irresponsibly, under the passive eye of the so-called regulatory agencies. The industry claims it is innovating when it is actually creating needs and forcing the rapid introduction onto the market of inadequately evaluated new drugs that carry ever increasing health risks. In 7 instances in 2004, Prescrire concluded that clinical evaluation data of new drugs revealed a negative benefit-harm balance. There are repeated pharmacovigilance scandals, not only because the new drugs concerned can cause serious adverse effects, but above all because these drugs designed for mass use offer no tangible benefits, while unjustifiably putting large numbers of patients at risk. But the tide is turning. More and more patients and health professionals in particular are clamouring for increased transparency and demanding that the public interest be paramount.

©Prescrire February 2005

Source: "L’année 2004 du médicament : innovation en panne et prises de risques" Rev Prescrire 2005 ; 25 (258) : 139-148.

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