Drug Benefits And Risks

This updated and revised 2nd edition of "Drug Benefits and Risks" is an inclusive reference exploring the scientific basis and practice of drug therapy. The key concept is to look at the balance between the benefits and risks of drugs, but in this context also highlighting the social impact which drugs have in modern societies. Taking an evidence-based approach to the problem, the practice of clinical pharmacology and pharmacotherapy in the developing as well as the developed world is examined. For this purpose, the book covers general clinical pharmacology, pharmacology of various drug groups and the treatments specific to various diseases; the book gives guidance on how doctors should act so that drugs can be used effectively and safely; and it encourages the rational use of drugs in society.This publication brings together a large amount of excellent content that will be invaluable for anyone working within, or associated with, the field of clinical pharmacology and pharmacotherapy - undergraduates, postgraduates, regulatory authorities and the pharmaceutical industry.

This is an inclusive reference exploring the scientific basis and practice of drug therapy. The key concept is to look at the balance between the benefits and risks of drugs but in this context also the social impact which drugs have in modern societies is highlighted. Taking an evidence-based approach to the problem, the practice of clinical pharmacology and pharmacotherapy in the developing as well as the developed world is examined. For this purpose the book * Covers general clinical pharmacology, pharmacology of various drug groups and the treatments specific to various diseases * Gives guidance on how doctors should act so that drugs can be used effectively and safely * Encourages the rational use of drugs in society This book brings together a large amount of excellent content that will be invaluable for anyone working within, or associated with, the field of clinical pharmacology and pharmacotherapy - undergraduates, postgraduates, regulatory authorities and the pharmaceutical industry.

All pharmaceutical products have inherent risks, and their use involves trade-offs between their therapeutic benefits and their risks. However, the public has a limited understanding of the benefits and risks of drugs, and many individuals believe that drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) carry no risks. The FDA is responsible for evaluating and balancing the potential risks of drugs with their potential benefits. Assessing, managing, and communicating the benefit-risk profile of a pharmaceutical product is a complex and nuanced scientific, political, and sociological challenge. Once the assessment is made, the FDA is then responsible for managing how to communicate these risks and make healthcare decisions based on them. To explore these issues, the Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation conducted a public workshop entitled Understanding the Benefits and Risks of Pharmaceuticals, with the broad goals of gaining a better understanding of the current system used to evaluate benefit and risk, and to identify opportunities for improvement. This workshop was held in Washington, D.C., on May 30-31, 2006. The benefit-risk profiles of pharmaceuticals are constantly evolving as new data are collected throughout the life cycle of a drug. Discussions during the workshop focused on the following: (1) premarket assessment, during which clinical trial data are used to assess benefit and risk; (2) communication of that information to prescribing physicians and their patients; (3) healthcare decisions made by prescribing physicians and their patients; and (4) the accumulation of benefit-risk information from postmarketing experience, which feeds back into the other phases. Understanding the Benefits and Risks of Pharmaceuticals: Workshop Summary explains in detail the discussions during this workshop.

If you believe that the latest blockbuster medication is worth a premium price over your generic brand, or that doctors have access to all the information they need about a drug’s safety and effectiveness each time they write a prescription, Dr. Jerry Avorn has some sobering news. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of patient care, teaching, and research at Harvard Medical School, he shares his firsthand experience of the wide gap in our knowledge of the effectiveness of one medication as compared to another. In Powerful Medicines, he reminds us that every pill we take represents a delicate compromise between the promise of healing, the risk of side effects, and an increasingly daunting price. The stakes on each front grow higher every year as new drugs with impressive power, worrisome side effects, and troubling costs are introduced. This is a comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at issues that affect everyone: our shortage of data comparing the worth of similar drugs for the same condition; alarming lapses in the detection of lethal side effects; the underuse of life-saving medications; lavish marketing campaigns that influence what doctors prescribe; and the resulting upward spiral of costs that places vital drugs beyond the reach of many Americans. In this engagingly written book, Dr. Avorn asks questions that will interest every consumer: How can a product judged safe by the Food and Drug Administration turn out to have unexpectedly lethal side effects? Why has the nation’s drug bill been growing at nearly 20 percent per year? How can physicians and patients pick the best medication in its class? How do doctors actually make their prescribing decisions, and why do those decisions sometimes go wrong? Why do so many Americans suffer preventable illnesses and deaths that proper drug use could have averted? How can the nation gain control over its escalating drug budget without resorting to rationing or draconian governmental controls? Using clinical case histories taken from his own work as a practitioner, researcher, and advocate, Dr. Avorn demonstrates the impressive power of the well-conceived prescription as well as the debacles that can result when medications are misused. He describes an innovative program that employs the pharmaceutical industry’s own marketing techniques to reduce use of some of the most overprescribed and overpriced products. Powerful Medicines offers timely and practical advice on how the nation can improve its drug-approval process, and how patients can work with doctors to make sure their prescriptions are safe, effective, and as affordable as possible. This is a passionate and provocative call for action as well as a compelling work of clear-headed science.

The use of drugs in food animal production has resulted in benefits throughout the food industry; however, their use has also raised public health safety concerns. The Use of Drugs in Food Animals provides an overview of why and how drugs are used in the major food-producing animal industriesâ€"poultry, dairy, beef, swine, and aquaculture. The volume discusses the prevalence of human pathogens in foods of animal origin. It also addresses the transfer of resistance in animal microbes to human pathogens and the resulting risk of human disease. The committee offers analysis and insight into these areas: Monitoring of drug residues. The book provides a brief overview of how the FDA and USDA monitor drug residues in foods of animal origin and describes quality assurance programs initiated by the poultry, dairy, beef, and swine industries. Antibiotic resistance. The committee reports what is known about this controversial problem and its potential effect on human health. The volume also looks at how drug use may be minimized with new approaches in genetics, nutrition, and animal management.

Explores the scientific basis and practice of drug therapy. This book examines the practice of clinical pharmacology and pharmacotherapy in the developing as well as the developed world. It covers general clinical pharmacology, pharmacology of various drug groups and the treatments specific to various diseases.

The use of drugs as remedies for various types of diseases has a long tradition; however, it has only been recently recognized that the value of any given compound must be evaluated in light of its benefit to risk ratio. When prescribing drugs, physicians must look at the big picture of the drug's benefits in relation to its side effects and possible toxicity. The aim of this handbook is to compile data from various authors, providing clinicians with data that will optimize their decision making in selecting effective, low-risk drug treatments. It also provides research workers, including physicians, pharmacists, and basic scientists, with a sound basis for increasing knowledge of the risk/benefit ratios of various drugs. Includes detailed assessments of the following types of drugs: Antihypertensive agents Diuretics Anti-diabetic drugs Anticonvulsant drugs Drugs for Parkinson's disease Antihistamines and antiserotonins Cytokines and immunomodulators Non-opioid analgesics and anti-inflammatory agents Antibacterial agents Antiviral agents Drugs used in reproductive endocrinology Systemic drugs for skin diseases Topical liposome drugs Topical glucocorticoids

The opioid crisis in the United States has come about because of excessive use of these drugs for both legal and illicit purposes and unprecedented levels of consequent opioid use disorder (OUD). More than 2 million people in the United States are estimated to have OUD, which is caused by prolonged use of prescription opioids, heroin, or other illicit opioids. OUD is a life-threatening condition associated with a 20-fold greater risk of early death due to overdose, infectious diseases, trauma, and suicide. Mortality related to OUD continues to escalate as this public health crisis gathers momentum across the country, with opioid overdoses killing more than 47,000 people in 2017 in the United States. Efforts to date have made no real headway in stemming this crisis, in large part because tools that already existâ€"like evidence-based medicationsâ€"are not being deployed to maximum impact. To support the dissemination of accurate patient-focused information about treatments for addiction, and to help provide scientific solutions to the current opioid crisis, this report studies the evidence base on medication assisted treatment (MAT) for OUD. It examines available evidence on the range of parameters and circumstances in which MAT can be effectively delivered and identifies additional research needed.