Comments on: Makers of Fen-Phen Win Lawsuit http://www.chubbymommy.com/health-news/makers-of-fen-phen-win-lawsuit/ Diet, weight loss and health news Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:15:44 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: silvermine http://www.chubbymommy.com/health-news/makers-of-fen-phen-win-lawsuit/comment-page-1/#comment-178 silvermine Fri, 27 Jul 2007 23:12:48 +0000 Wyeth Pharmeceticals, makers of the 90's diet cocktail known as Fen-Phen (a combination of fenfluramine and phentermine), apparently won a lawsuit filed against them. Curiously, I haven't b#comment-178 The thing is, a lot of the drugs being taken off the market in the past 10 years for their side-effects wouldn't have even been considered harmful decades ago. Put another way, if aspirin or advil or tylenol were up for approval today, they would fail. I'm guessing there isn't any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the makers. Often such low-level side effects are only visible once a very large number of people start taking it over many years. Basically, a much larger scope than clinical testing allows for. (And it's the point of the databsaes kept on side effects and adverse reactions -- to find patterns after the drug has been approved). No one should ever consider any medication totally absolutely safe. Weigh the pros and cons, make an educated choice, and do your best. The thing is, a lot of the drugs being taken off the market in the past 10 years for their side-effects wouldn’t have even been considered harmful decades ago. Put another way, if aspirin or advil or tylenol were up for approval today, they would fail.

I’m guessing there isn’t any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the makers. Often such low-level side effects are only visible once a very large number of people start taking it over many years. Basically, a much larger scope than clinical testing allows for. (And it’s the point of the databsaes kept on side effects and adverse reactions — to find patterns after the drug has been approved).

No one should ever consider any medication totally absolutely safe. Weigh the pros and cons, make an educated choice, and do your best.

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