Few people realize that prescription drugs have become a leading
cause of death, disease, and disability. Adverse reactions to
widely used drugs, such as psychotropics and birth control pills,
as well as biologicals, result in FDA warnings against adverse
reactions.
"The Risks of Prescription Drugs" describes how most drugs
approved by the FDA are under-tested for adverse drug reactions,
yet offer few new benefits. Drugs cause more than 2.2 million
hospitalizations and 110,000 hospital-based deaths a year. Serious
drug reactions at home or in nursing homes would significantly
raise the total. Women, older people, and people with disabilities
are least used in clinical trials and most affected.
Health policy experts Donald Light, Howard Brody, Peter Conrad,
Allan Horwitz, and Cheryl Stults describe how current regulations
reward drug companies to expand clinical risks and create new
diseases so millions of patients are exposed to unnecessary risks,
especially women and the elderly. They reward developing marginally
better drugs rather than discovering breakthrough, life-saving
drugs.
"The Risks of Prescription Drugs" tackles critical questions
about the pharmaceutical industry and the privatization of risk. To
what extent does the FDA protect the public from serious side
effects and disasters? What is the effect of giving the private
sector and markets a greater role and reducing public oversight?
This volume considers whether current rules and incentives put
patients' health at greater risk, the effect of the expansion of
disease categories, the industry's justification of high U.S.
prices, and the underlying shifts in the burden of risk borne by
individuals in the world of pharmaceuticals. Chapters cover risks
of statins for high cholesterol, SSRI drugs for depression and
anxiety, and hormone replacement therapy for menopause. A final
chapter outlines six changes to make drugs safer and more
effective.
Suitable for courses on health and aging, gender, disability,
and minority studies, this book identifies the Risk Proliferation
Syndrome that maximizes the number of people exposed to these
risks.
Additional Columbia / SSRC books on the privatization of risk
and its implications for Americans:
Bailouts: Public Money, Private ProfitEdited by Robert E.
Wright
Disaster and the Politics of InterventionEdited by Andrew
Lakoff
Health at Risk: America's Ailing Health System-and How to Heal
ItEdited by Jacob S. Hacker
Laid Off, Laid Low: Political and Economic Consequences of
Employment InsecurityEdited by Katherine S. Newman
Pensions, Social Security, and the Privatization of RiskEdited
by Mitchell A. Orenstein
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