english.prescrire.org > Spotlight > Archives : 2010 > Compare before deciding: Prescrire's annual review of new drugs

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Compare before deciding: Prescrire's annual review of new drugs

As always, Prescrire's year-end drug review provides impartial comparisons to help healthcare professionals sift through all the "innovations".

Prescrire's annual drug review delivers an objective assessment of all the "innovations" that appeared on the market in 2009.

Healthcare professionals find themselves faced with a vast range of pharmaceutical products that are not regulated with sufficient rigour. It is left to them to sort the good from the bad and to guarantee that the diagnoses and treatment choices they offer patients are those best suited to their particular situation. This means being in a position to compare the risk-benefit balances of various options, identifying treatment priorities and determining the right comparator drug, with its limitations, as well as making sure no genuinely useful innovations have been left out. And this is where Prescrire’s annual review plays its part, assisting healthcare professionals and ultimately benefiting patients.

Prescrire's review does not rely on preconceived opinions, but on a rigorous and systematic analysis carried out in full independence and regularly updated. It is up to healthcare professionals to make good use of it and apply it to each patient and each individual situation, comparing the options in order to make an informed decision, in the best interests of all concerned.

©Prescrire April 2010

"From Prescrire's 2009 drug review: A recap of which new drugs to avoid" Prescrire Int 2010; 19 (106): 76-80. (pdf, subscribers only)
Download the full review