On Aug 27, 2009, at 6:55 PM, shag carpet bomb wrote:
> oh, and i forgot. a drug can pass the test if it can cough up two
> studies that support it's efficacy. 17 others can demonstrate
> nothing. Zoloft, for instance, was found to do nothing in 8 studies
> conducted by Pfizer. When they showed 2 that demonstrated something,
> the FDA approved it.
One of the classiest examples of the character of pharm is the viagra research. It was developed to expand blood vessels and reduce blood pressure. But it was never marketed for that purpose when the side effect was recognized.
martin
SamSmith had a link to a pharm article this evening - I haven't read it, just the clip ... <http://www.wired.com/medtech/drugs/magazine/17-09/ff_placebo_effect?currentPage=all
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