Powerful Medicines: the Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs.JERRY AVORN Practicing the art of medicine, Avorn points out, entails finding the middle ground between a drug's benefits and its occasional downfalls. Further complicating the equation today, however, are costs that are increasing in an unsustainable rate at a time when people in the united States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. already spend $200 billion annually on drugs. AS a physician and professor specializing in pharmacoepidemiology at Harvard University Harvard University, mainly at Cambridge, Mass., including Harvard College, the oldest American college. Harvard College Harvard College, originally for men, was founded in 1636 with a grant from the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. , Avorn understands both the clinical and business side of pharmaceutics. He shares that knowledge as he addresses the bone fits of risks from, costs of, information about, and public policy surrounding prescription drugs prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, . He also provides an insider's view of how drugs are promoted, prescribed, and used He reports that many physicians start prescribing new. more expensive, but not necessarily better, drugs under the sway of perks perk 1 v. perked, perk·ing, perks v.intr. 1. To stick up or jut out: dogs' ears that perk. 2. To carry oneself in a lively and jaunty manner. from major drug companies. Moreover, many physicians aren't properly trained to analyze and compare drugs. Avorn offers some suggestions for reform that he insists would rein in rein in Verb 1. to stop (a horse) by pulling on the reins 2. to restrict or stop: either prices or wage packets had to be reined in Verb 1. costs and provide a sound approach to treatment. Knopf, 2004, 448 p., hardcover, $27.50. |
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