Too Many Medicines Simply Don’t Work

Too Many Medicines Simply Don’t Work

 

A pair of new studies sheds light on an old problem: Some things doctors do are useless. Some are even harmful.

One study examines 93 cancer drug uses that were granted accelerated approval by the FDA between 1992 and 2017. Of those, only 19 showed improvement in overall survival. Another 39 showed improvement by a surrogate measure, such as tumor shrinkage. The problem with surrogates is that they aren’t always accurate measures—drugs that shrink tumors don’t necessarily make people live longer. Some of the other drug uses that got accelerated approval were still in a gray area as of 2017 because their confirmatory trials were delayed, pending, or ongoing. Five of the 93 were withdrawn or had their approvals revokedIt’s possible that the medicine you’re taking isn’t helping—even if it’s been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. That’s the upshot of a pair of studies in the latest issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. Not good. As an invited commentary in the same issue says, “Charging vulnerable patients for drugs without evidence that they actually improve patients’ survival and quality of life is unconscionable.”