Urge For Drug Fact Boxes on FDA Website and Advertisements

In an attempt to make consumers more knowledgeable about medications they may require, researchers at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire are urging federal directors to include drug fact boxes in print ads and on the Food and Drug Administration website. The drug fact boxes, or “benefit boxes”, will be similar to nutrition fact panels found on almost all packaged foods. However, instead of listing items like calories and fat content, the drug fact boxes will show the actual benefits and risk of side effects for the particular drug. Researchers from Dartmouth Medical School will present their suggestion to the FDA in an effort to raise consumer awareness by providing them with clear information about medications they may need. During their presentation, results from two trials analyzing the benefits of drug fact boxes will be used as evidence that consumers are able to select the more effective drug out of two alternatives when provided with information about their risks and benefits. (To learn more about the trials, read the full article at the Annals of Internal Medicine website.)

If this beneficial drug fact box is put into use, consumers can easily see the risks and benefits of drugs such as Lunesta, a sleep-aid medication that was found to only provide an average of 37 additional minutes of sleep to patients taking the drug when compared to those taking a placebo. If possible consumers could see this type of information printed in an ad or at the FDA website, they may ask their doctors about other alternatives to help them sleep. If the drug fact box is not utilized, consumers will have to continue to rely on the fast-paced summaries included in television and radio advertisements and the hardly comprehensible information printed in the smallest allowable font at the bottom of print ads. This means that even if consumers were being told what type of side effects were found during trials or how effective a drug was in these fleeting messages (which they are not), they probably wouldn’t be able to grasp them anyway. Any additional information provided to consumers may help them choose among alternative drugs and benefit them when discussing these options with their doctor. Increased awareness on the part of the patient may also help prevent medication mistakes. When a doctor prescribes too high or too low a dose of some medication, or prescribes the wrong medication altogether, that doctor may be responsible for the injuries resulting from that medication error. If you or a loved one has been the victim of medication malpractice in New York, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau or Suffolk, please contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Silberstein Awad & Miklos, P.C. today to schedule your free initial consultation.

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