Drugs don't work: Top professor claims five in six new medicines have 'little benefit' to patients
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:44 PM on 18th August 2010
Drug companies have been accused of conning the public by hyping up patented medicines with little new to offer while downplaying their potentially harmful side-effects.
製藥公司已被指控欺詐市民，以炒作專利藥品而冇乜新意提供，而淡化它們潛在的有害副作用。
A new study estimates that 85 per cent of new drugs offer few if any new benefits while having the potential to cause serious harm due to toxicity or misuse.
一項新研究估計，百分之85的新藥物幾乎沒有提供新益處，而同時有潛質造成嚴重傷害，由於毒性或誤服。
The author of the research delivered a damning attack on 'Big Pharma' at a meeting of sociology experts in the US.
研究的作者發表一對'大製藥'的咒罵攻擊，在一次美國社會學專家的會議上。
'Market for lemons': Professor Donald Light claims that five out of six prescription drugs are not effective
'給檸檬的市場'：唐納德光教授聲稱，6種處方藥物中有5種效果不理想
Professor Donald Light described the pharmaceutical industry as a 'market for lemons' - one in which the seller knows much more than the buyer about the product, and takes advantage of this fact.
唐納德光教授描述製藥業為一'給檸檬的市場' - 在其中販者知道有關產品要比買方多，並利用這一事實從中得益。
'Sometimes drug companies hide or downplay information about serious side-effects of new drugs and overstate the drugs' benefits,' said Prof Light, a professor of comparative health policy at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, US.
'有時製藥公司隱瞞或淡化新藥物的嚴重副作用的信息，和誇大藥物的好處，'美國新澤西州醫學和牙科大學健康比較政策的光教授說。
'Then, they spend two to three times more on marketing than on research to persuade doctors to prescribe these new drugs.
'然後，他們花費多 2至3倍在市場營銷而不是在研究上，用以說服醫生處方這些新藥物。
'Doctors may get misleading information and then misinform patients about the risks of a new drug. It's really a two-tier market for lemons.'
He alleged that the pharmaceutical industry owned companies in charge of drug testing and provided 'firewalls' of legal protection behind which information about dangers or lack of effectiveness could be be hidden.
Companies were assisted by the 'relatively low bar' for effectiveness that had to be crossed to get a new drug approved, he claimed.
Prof Light presented his paper, entitled 'Pharmaceuticals: A Two-Tier Market for Producing 'Lemons' and Serious Harm' at the American Sociological Association's annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1304118/Top-professor-claims-5-6-new-medicines-little-benefit-patients.html#ixzz0x8gzLtAv
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