Why Cigarette is held responsible?

[dkv]

In capitals we find Satuary Warning for the smokers :

Smoking is injurious to health.

Now my question is almost every medicine approved by Goverment has its side effects... then should they also share the complete truth.

[Phi for All]

Don't they require disclosure in India? In the US, all advertisements for prescription drugs must include a list of side affects observed in clinical testing.

 

It's really pretty funny, seeing a television commercial talking about a drug that clears your sinuses for 24 hours that also may cause rectal bleeding, nausea, flatulence, Irritability and short tempers, kidney failure, diarrhea, muscle aching and weakness, tingling or cramping in the legs, impaired muscle formation, erectile dysfunction, nerve damage and mental confusion. They have announcers who can talk really fast list them all before showing you again how clear your sinuses will be.

[insane_alien]

Phi: LOL we just get a wee note on the side of the box. don't put anything into my system unless its necessary or a doctor tells me to do it.

[Phi for All]

What is really fascinating is that these commercialized prescription drugs sell like crazy, despite the fact that they warn you you may start bleeding from the ears or experience homicidal impulses. Granted, maybe only 1 person out of 100 actually experienced homicidal impulses and you could argue that it may not have been the medicine that caused them (I guess they don't ask if they have homicidal impulses without taking the drug), but you would think it would make people more leery.

 

I really thought when the law was passed allowing the drug companies to advertise with the caveat that they list the side affects audibly it would kill the underlying purpose of the advertisements. In reality people have almost stopped listening to that part since they want to believe so badly that it won't happen to them. It's like people pretending the flight attendant doesn't exist when she's explaining how to exit the plane in the event of a water landing.

 

It just goes to show, you think about how dumb the average person is and then remember that half the population is dumber than that.

[prion]

I don't know how different things are in different countries, but in the UK each pack of medicine has a big bit of paper (folded up loads) with tiny writing listing basically every side effect ever seen and saying whether it's common, occasional or rare. And prescription drugs cannot be advertised other than directly to medical doctors.

[jdurg]

What is really fascinating is that these commercialized prescription drugs sell like crazy' date=' despite the fact that they warn you you may start bleeding from the ears or experience homicidal impulses. Granted, maybe only 1 person out of 100 actually experienced homicidal impulses and you could argue that it may not have been the medicine that caused them (I guess they don't ask if they have homicidal impulses without taking the drug), but you would think it would make people more leery.

 

I really thought when the law was passed allowing the drug companies to advertise with the caveat that they list the side affects audibly it would kill the underlying purpose of the advertisements. In reality people have almost stopped listening to that part since they want to believe so badly that it won't happen to them. It's like people pretending the flight attendant doesn't exist when she's explaining how to exit the plane in the event of a water landing.

 

It just goes to show, you think about how dumb the average person is and then remember that half the population is dumber than that.[/quote']

 

As a person who works with clinical trial data for a living, I can assure you that every single possible question you can think of is asked. Things that you would think would have nothing to do with the drug being tested is asked about. The amount of testing that drugs go through is enormous.

 

The side effects that you hear listed are gathered from all of the adverse events that are reported during a clinical trial. When a trial is going on, ANYTHING that is even remotely out of the ordinary MUST be reported to the clinical people. At the end of the study, tables are run which show all of the AEs which were deemed "related to study drug". These AEs are what you read about in those pamphlets and hear about in the commercials. Even if it only happened to one person, if the severity was deemed high enough and the "related to study drug" was indicated on the AE form, it will be listed as a possible side effect.

[YT2095]

Hmmm... I`m not sure if you`re allowed to share this data with us jdurg, but out of these trials, how many "Complain" that have only taken the Placebos?

 

I`ll guess there will be some that moan about bad side effects with sugar pills too (am I right/wrong?).

general public are SO Non-Scientific!

[prion]

now there's a thought - placebos having side-effects!

If they do it puts a new spin on all those 'harmless' placebo-type alternative remedies!

[jdurg]

Hmmm... I`m not sure if you`re allowed to share this data with us jdurg' date=' but out of these trials, how many "Complain" that have only taken the Placebos?

 

I`ll guess there will be some that moan about bad side effects with sugar pills too (am I right/wrong?).

general public are SO Non-Scientific! [/quote']

 

Unless it is an open-label study, the patients have no idea if they are on placebo or not. For integrity of the data, you cannot have the patients know if they are taking a placebo or the study drug as it may cause bias in the reporting of adverse events and efficacy results. (Especially with psychological drugs). The blind is not broken until the study has been completed, or if a patient suffers a Severe Adverse Event. This is the common practice of all clinical trials.

 

It's only with late stage Oncology or Phase I studies that the patients will know if they are getting a study drug or a placebo. (As with late stage oncology the patients are close to death anyway so they really have no way of introducing "bias" into the reported data. Phase I studies investigate the safety of the drug, so typically all patients will be informed about whether they were randomized to the treatment group or the placebo group. Still, they may not be informed depending on what exactly is being investigated).

 

For the confidentiality, I'm only prohibited from talking about specific studies, drugs under investigation, or the companies I am currently performing work for. I am able to talk about the common traits of ALL clinical studies as this data is readily available from the FDA.

[dkv]

No wonder that the widely publicized anti-depressant drugs is well within the reach of almost all teenagers in the developed countries....

Who is to be blamed?

Its is sold as cure of a disease which breeds in the system itself...

Cant we change the system...?

Probably not .. it is not a matter of one day or one year but surely one decade is enough if we keep our leaders on their toes for every sin they support.

[mike90]

After a short stint on anitdepressants some years ago i pay a lot more attention to listed side effects on medications now. The doctors really played down the potential side effects of the medication, and i ended up having some pretty unpleasant ones. Unfortunately a lot of times it seems like doctors are a little eager to push drugs on someone as an instant cure for whatever ailment they have without considering any other options