Insufficient Testing

Before they can be made available for public consumption, drugs are tested on animals and humans to insure they have desired effects in curing diseases and don't have harmful side effects. Thus, ideally, drugs are safe and perform as intended. However, recall of drugs do happen, and many drugs have undesired or, worse, harmful side effects. It's interesting that almost as much time in TV advertisements is devoted to harmful side effects as is devoted to beneficial effects of drugs.

Scientists are studying the harm that certain drugs can cause. Here are links to some of their research.

The study, published online by the Archives of Internal Medicine on Oct. 8, is the first of its kind undertaken in Canada. It tracked a total of 434 new active substances (NASs) approved by Health Canada between 1995 and 2010, examining how many subsequently acquired either serious safety warnings or had to be withdrawn from the market for safety reasons. The NASs were then compared to see whether a difference in safety existed between those that had gone through Health Canada's standard 300 day review period vs. the 180 day priority process.