Me and My Black Box
My Beef This Week
Black box warnings are a political/social decision most often rather than medical ones. I’m so tired of all this bullshit. It breeds more bullshit. And a hell of a lot of truly unfounded lawsuits; which just makes rich lawyers. More of the let’s-freak-the-people-out-so-we-can-look-like-we’re-doing-a-good-job-protecting-the-people bullshit. I’m not sure how many people know what a black box warning is or what it truly means. It is the strongest warning the FDA can give a medicine. It is the mark of death for most drugs. But what does it really mean? Nothing. For example, most antidepressants contain black box warnings about increased suicides on these drugs. No shit. Depressed people killing themselves? Is it statistically relevant that in a pool of depressed people that are more likely to kill themselves, that when they are put on a certain drug, they are still more likely to kill themselves than people who are not depressed? Doubtful. It is the same thing that keeps cancer patients from being in any trial except ones where it is expected that some will die. That abandons a lot of legitimate research because of the inability of the FDA to compare true control groups.
Which brings me to the fundamental beef of this rant. Most experiments are set up for the oblique views of the government. That and to sell as much drug as possible. Definitely, not for the benefit of medicine or humanity. Far be it for science to truly help the depressed. God forbid we make large strides in cancer research.
So why don’t you go slap on some Elidel and maybe you can get in on the cancer class action lawsuit. Me? I’m going to take some Tequin, Vioxx, and Lexapro and hope I don’t slip into a diabetic coma or have a coronary before I contemplate using my Lady Bic in unorthodox ways.
Black box warnings are a political/social decision most often rather than medical ones. I’m so tired of all this bullshit. It breeds more bullshit. And a hell of a lot of truly unfounded lawsuits; which just makes rich lawyers. More of the let’s-freak-the-people-out-so-we-can-look-like-we’re-doing-a-good-job-protecting-the-people bullshit. I’m not sure how many people know what a black box warning is or what it truly means. It is the strongest warning the FDA can give a medicine. It is the mark of death for most drugs. But what does it really mean? Nothing. For example, most antidepressants contain black box warnings about increased suicides on these drugs. No shit. Depressed people killing themselves? Is it statistically relevant that in a pool of depressed people that are more likely to kill themselves, that when they are put on a certain drug, they are still more likely to kill themselves than people who are not depressed? Doubtful. It is the same thing that keeps cancer patients from being in any trial except ones where it is expected that some will die. That abandons a lot of legitimate research because of the inability of the FDA to compare true control groups.
Which brings me to the fundamental beef of this rant. Most experiments are set up for the oblique views of the government. That and to sell as much drug as possible. Definitely, not for the benefit of medicine or humanity. Far be it for science to truly help the depressed. God forbid we make large strides in cancer research.
So why don’t you go slap on some Elidel and maybe you can get in on the cancer class action lawsuit. Me? I’m going to take some Tequin, Vioxx, and Lexapro and hope I don’t slip into a diabetic coma or have a coronary before I contemplate using my Lady Bic in unorthodox ways.
posted by DrKNOW at 9:06 PM
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