Powerful Medicines: the Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs

Science News, Oct 16, 2004

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 already spend $200 billion annually on drugs. AS a physician and professor specializing in pharmacoepidemiology at Harvard University, 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. 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 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 costs and provide a sound approach to treatment. Knopf, 2004, 448 p., hardcover, $27.50.