About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group

ISBN-101400030781

ISBN-139781400030781

eBay Product ID (ePID)44399905

Product Key Features

Number of Pages480 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NamePowerful Medicines : the Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs

Publication Year2005

SubjectAdministration, Health Care Issues, Industries / Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology, Pharmacology, Health Policy

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaHealth & Fitness, Business & Economics, Medical

AuthorJerry Avorn

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight12.5 Oz

Item Length8.2 in

Item Width6.3 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2005-280086

Reviews"Passionate and well-informedÉ[Avorn] goes beyond articulating the problems and makes mane creative suggestions about how we can do better." Annals of Internal Medicine "In Powerful Medicines , Dr. Avorn brilliantly demonstrates the corrosive effects of commercial influence over medical research, education, and clinical care. This impressive book demonstrates the adverse effects such privatization can have on the health care system and ultimately on patients."Bernard Lown, M.D., Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Professor Emeritus, Harvard School of Public Health"Marked by solid scholarship, measured criticism, and pithy comments: an informative and highly readable study that makes a significant contribution to the ongoing discussion of an important health care issue." Kirkus Reviews "This is an authoritative, stunningly comprehensive, and beautifully written work about a subject that ought to interest every American. At last: a smart Harvard doctor who knows drugs, understands FDA and regulatory policy, and has a sense of humor. Unbelievable!"Donald Kennedy, Ph.D., Editor-in-chief, Science ;President emeritus, Stanford University; Former Commissioner of the FDA"Deepens a reader's understanding of the complex cost-benefit analysis involved with prescription drugs." -- New York Post " Powerful Medicines is a must read for anyone interested in the use, abuse, and economics of prescription drugs. The issues it addresses are central to the ongoing debate about how to reduce the cost and improve the quality of health care in America." Senator Edward M. Kennedy"Informative and wittyÉ. Makes a compelling case for prescription sanity and shows how constructive change can realistically be achieved."-- Publishers Weekly "A book that is at once engrossing and definitive."Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Education and Cognition Harvard Graduate School of Education, "Passionate and well-informedÉ[Avorn] goes beyond articulating the problems and makes mane creative suggestions about how we can do better." Annals of Internal Medicine "InPowerful Medicines,Dr. Avorn brilliantly demonstrates the corrosive effects of commercial influence over medical research, education, and clinical care. This impressive book demonstrates the adverse effects such privatization can have on the health care system and ultimately on patients."Bernard Lown, M.D., Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Professor Emeritus, Harvard School of Public Health "Marked by solid scholarship, measured criticism, and pithy comments: an informative and highly readable study that makes a significant contribution to the ongoing discussion of an important health care issue." Kirkus Reviews "This is an authoritative, stunningly comprehensive, and beautifully written work about a subject that ought to interest every American. At last: a smart Harvard doctor who knows drugs, understands FDA and regulatory policy, and has a sense of humor. Unbelievable!"Donald Kennedy, Ph.D., Editor-in-chief,Science;President emeritus, Stanford University; Former Commissioner of the FDA "Deepens a reader's understanding of the complex cost-benefit analysis involved with prescription drugs." --New York Post "Powerful Medicinesis a must read for anyone interested in the use, abuse, and economics of prescription drugs. The issues it addresses are central to the ongoing debate about how to reduce the cost and improve the quality of health care in America." Senator Edward M. Kennedy "Informative and wittyÉ. Makes a compelling case for prescription sanity and shows how constructive change can realistically be achieved."--Publishers Weekly "A book that is at once engrossing and definitive."Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Education and Cognition Harvard Graduate School of Education

Dewey Edition22

Dewey Decimal338.4/36151/0973

Table Of ContentPROLOGUE: DIFFERENT STROKES PART ONE: BENEFITS 1: THE PREGNANT MARE'S LESSON 2: LEAVING THE DARK AGES BEHIND, MOSTLY PART TWO: RISKS 3: THE FAT IS IN THE FIRE 4: TOO SWEET TO BE TRUE 5: COLD COMFORT 6: GETTING RISKS RIGHT 7: THE MOST VULNERABLE PATIENTS 8: ENTER DOCTOR FAUSTUS 9: IMPERFECT MEASURES 10: WHOSE RISK IS IT, ANYWAY? 11: A BALANCING ACT PART THREE: COSTS 12: LIVE CHEAP OR DIE 13: FILLING THE PIPELINE 14: WHAT THE TRAFFIC WILL BEAR 15: NAVIGATING THE THIRD DIMENSION PART FOUR: INFORMATION 16: SIGNALS, NOISE, AND THE BIG VOID 17: INFORMATIONAL KUDZU 18: DEVISING AN ANTIDOTE 19: THE EMPEROR'S FASHION CRITICS 20: SAME LANGUAGE, DIFFERENT ACCENTS PART FIVE: POLICY 21: PULLING THE FACTS TOGETHER 22: TURNING KNOWLEDGE INTO ACTION 23: MARKETS AND MEDICINES EPILOGUE: THE TRIPLE-EDGED SWORD NOTES INDEX

SynopsisIf you believe that the latest blockbuster medication is worth a premium price over your generic brand, or that doctors have access to all the information they need about a drug's safety and effectiveness each time they write a prescription, Dr. Jerry Avorn has some sobering news. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of patient care, teaching, and research at Harvard Medical School, he shares his firsthand experience of the wide gap in our knowledge of the effectiveness of one medication as compared to another. In Powerful Medicines, he reminds us that every pill we take represents a delicate compromise between the promise of healing, the risk of side effects, and an increasingly daunting price. The stakes on each front grow higher every year as new drugs with impressive power, worrisome side effects, and troubling costs are introduced. This is a comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at issues that affect everyone- our shortage of data comparing the worth of similar drugs for the same condition; alarming lapses in the detection of lethal side effects; the underuse of life-saving medications; lavish marketing campaigns that influence what doctors prescribe; and the resulting upward spiral of costs that places vital drugs beyond the reach of many Americans. In this engagingly written book, Dr. Avorn asks questions that will interest every consumer- How can a product judged safe by the Food and Drug Administration turn out to have unexpectedly lethal side effects? Why has the nation's drug bill been growing at nearly 20 percent per year? How can physicians and patients pick the best medication in its class? How do doctors actually make their prescribing decisions, and why do those decisions sometimes go wrong? Why do so many Americans suffer preventable illnesses and deaths that proper drug use could have averted? How can the nation gain control over its escalating drug budget without resorting to rationing or draconian governmental controls? Using clinical case histories taken from his own work as a practitioner, researcher, and advocate, Dr. Avorn demonstrates the impressive power of the well-conceived prescription as well as the debacles that can result when medications are misused. He describes an innovative program that employs the pharmaceutical industry's own marketing techniques to reduce use of some of the most overprescribed and overpriced products. Powerful Medicines offers timely and practical advice on how the nation can improve its drug-approval process, and how patients can work with doctors to make sure their prescriptions are safe, effective, and as affordable as possible. This is a passionate and provocative call for action as well as a compelling work of clear-headed science., In Powerful Medicines, he reminds us that every pill we take represents a delicate compromise between the promise of healing, the risk of side effects, and an increasingly daunting price., If you believe that the latest blockbuster medication is worth a premium price over your generic brand, or that doctors have access to all the information they need about a drug's safety and effectiveness each time they write a prescription, Dr. Jerry Avorn has some sobering news. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of patient care, teaching, and research at Harvard Medical School, he shares his firsthand experience of the wide gap in our knowledge of the effectiveness of one medication as compared to another. In Powerful Medicines, he reminds us that every pill we take represents a delicate compromise between the promise of healing, the risk of side effects, and an increasingly daunting price. The stakes on each front grow higher every year as new drugs with impressive power, worrisome side effects, and troubling costs are introduced. This is a comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at issues that affect everyone: our shortage of data comparing the worth of similar drugs for the same condition; alarming lapses in the detection of lethal side effects; the underuse of life-saving medications; lavish marketing campaigns that influence what doctors prescribe; and the resulting upward spiral of costs that places vital drugs beyond the reach of many Americans. In this engagingly written book, Dr. Avorn asks questions that will interest every consumer: How can a product judged safe by the Food and Drug Administration turn out to have unexpectedly lethal side effects? Why has the nation's drug bill been growing at nearly 20 percent per year? How can physicians and patients pick the best medication in its class? How do doctors actually make their prescribing decisions, and why do those decisions sometimes go wrong? Why do so many Americans suffer preventable illnesses and deaths that proper drug use could have averted? How can the nation gain control over its escalating drug budget without resorting to rationing or draconian governmental controls? Using clinical case histories taken from his own work as a practitioner, researcher, and advocate, Dr. Avorn demonstrates the impressive power of the well-conceived prescription as well as the debacles that can result when medications are misused. He describes an innovative program that employs the pharmaceutical industry's own marketing techniques to reduce use of some of the most overprescribed and overpriced products. Powerful Medicines offers timely and practical advice on how the nation can improve its drug-approval process, and how patients can work with doctors to make sure their prescriptions are safe, effective, and as affordable as possible. This is a passionate and provocative call for action as well as a compelling work of clear-headed science.

LC Classification NumberHD9666.5.A94 2005