<<In Medical Nihilism , published by Oxford University Press, Stegenga presents a devastating critique of medicine. Most treatments, he argues, do not work very well, and many do more harm than good. Therefore we should “have little confidence in medical interventions” and resort to them much more sparingly. This is what Stegenga means by medical nihilism.
…
Drugs’ harmful effects are underreported. Stegenga accuses the FDA, which has close ties to industry, of setting the bar too low in approving drugs. He quotes a senior FDA epidemiologist complaining that the agency “consistently overrated the benefits of the drugs it approved and rejected, downplayed or ignored the safety problems.”
Research generally under-reports adverse effects. Preliminary “safety” trials almost always go unpublished, as do many later trials that show largely negative effects. Moreover, published studies often provide no data on patients who withdraw from a study because of adverse reactions to a drug. Medications’ harmful effects often come to light only after approval by regulatory agencies. One study found that harms are underestimated by 94 percent in post-approval surveillance.
Drugs recently withdrawn after approval include (these are generic names, Google for brand names) valdecoxib, fenfluramine, gatifloxacin and rofecoxib. Those that remain on the market in spite of increased safety concerns include celecoxib, alendronic acid, risperidone, olanzapine and rosiglitazone.
This last drug, marketed as Avandia for type-two diabetes, increased risk of heart disease and death in early studies. The manufacturer claimed that a new trial showed much lower risks, but the trial excluded subjects most likely to react adversely, according to Stegenga.>>