Monday, December 29, 2008

The Tricky Tactics of the Pharmaceutical Industry

By Dr. Ray Sahelian

You may think you're up on the latest health information. But even if you were to read all the thousands of medical journals out there, you probably wouldn't be getting the whole story. Because when they are trying to get their studies published, drug companies are more likely to submit outcomes of those that favor benefits of the new drugs they are promoting.

Understandable, maybe. But that means you may not be aware of the poor outcomes of many new drugs. In fact, many trials that showed poor outcomes were still not published several years after the FDA approved the drug.

An independent review of these studies concludes: "The information that is readily available in the scientific literature to health care professionals is incomplete and potentially biased."

This should make you even more skeptical about the benefits touted by drug companies.

Discuss all new medications thoroughly with your doctor - and be sure to get a second opinion if anything seems fishy or too good to be true.

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