Drug fact boxes proposed to give clear, easy-to-understand drug safety information to consumers

Tuesday, September 17, 2013 by: Sandeep Godiyal
Tags: drug facts, side effects, medications

(NaturalNews) Two American researchers propose to create drug fact boxes, similar to nutrition fact boxes on food, for 1,000 prescription drugs. This is to help both patients and doctors to get all the full information they need from a prescription drug in a more simplified form.

Lisa Schwartz and Steve Woloshin, both internists at the U.S. Veterans Affairs Outcomes Group and professors of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School; however, have apprehensions regarding the traditional pamphlets that are included in the prescription drugs and that these boxes may not even give people what they really need. This prompted them to come up with an easy to understand drug safety information or handout for the regulatory approval of new drugs.

Simple drug fact boxes decreases confusion

A simple fact box makes everything less complicated and clearer. In this drug fact box, consumers are given a detailed assessment of the drug's potential harms and benefits so they can make informed decisions. The patient can now have the option of seeing the effectiveness, benefits and risks of a drug compared to its competition.

Knowing the important details of a certain prescribed drug will give patients like you an idea on its possible side effects, instructions on how to use them and other vital precautions. The said side effects indicated on the leaflet can be both serious and common. The duo is now working on a drug fact box that can be reviewed by an FDA advisory committee for the 1,000 prescribed drugs. This will give patients a better choice when it comes to selecting prescribed drugs and how it will affect their health. The drug fact boxes are informative and simple, giving people a more informed treatment decisions when it comes to their medications.

Most boxes contain misleading information about a particular side effect. For instance, a particular drug claims to reduce your risk of heart attack by 30 percent, but it fails to state what that 30 percent covers. Also, another thing that is noticeable in some of these leaflets is that these do not contain the benefits of the prescribed medicine.

Doctors do not always have the last say

Another misconception believed by most people is that once these medicines are prescribed by a doctor, these can now be considered as a superior drug. Of course, prescription drugs must be prescribed by medical experts and trusted physicians, but for the same ailment or medical condition, there are other drugs that can have the same effect, only these are not recommended by physicians for various reasons. However, it does not follow that when a drug is not advised by your physician, it is no longer an effective medicine as compared to those being heavily endorsed by doctors.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2013/01/18/drug-safety-boxes.html

http://www.drugs.com/news/add-more-facts-ads-experts-urge-16193.html

http://michelfortin.com/random-drug-experiments-lead-copy/

About the author:
Sandeep has written many health field articles for both Internet and print publication. He currently writing for insurancetips4u.co.

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