Is your Rx Safe / New Medication Drug Safety

Daily we see commercials for new medications on the television.  Part of these commercials is a disclosure of side effects. These often alert us to the possibility of death. The main reason for this disclosure is to protect the drug company.  Should these side effects occur you will not have a legal basis to sue the manufacturer. Why? Because they fully disclosed the side effects about medication safety.

Consumers need to know that there are very few new medications.  The alleged new medication is usually another version of an older medication that had a patent expire.  Often new medications are no more than two old medications combined and renamed.  Yes – the same pig but a different shade of lipstick. The high price, associated with an expensive patented prescription, is a guarantee for the life of the patent.

Consumers need to realize that when the FDA approves a prescription medication the patent is good for seven years.  Consumers should be aware that for every ten prescriptions the FDA approves on average 3.5 of 10 are later taken off the market. This is due to these approved medications hurting, harming, or cause death.   These numbers come from the pharmaceutical manufacturers association publications.

There is a way to protect yourself and your pocket book. Ask your physician if there is a prescription medication that has a long track record or history of use, for what you are using it for.  This will help to insure that you do not end up on one of those law firm commercials as a poster child.  If a prescription has been on the market for 30 plus years, and it works, then obviously it has a relative degree of safety associated with it.  In addition it is likely off patent and available for less than half of what that new medication costs.

Many consumers believe that if there is a lawsuit filed against a drug or prescription that they will see it on the news or tv commercial.  Unfortunately this is not true.  Physicians prescribe medications everyday that currently have class action lawsuits filed against them.  Since you will be swallowing the product the first thing you should do is perform an internet search using the medication name and the word lawsuit (Bing, AOL, Yahoo).

It is common for a physician to prescribe a new product over an old one. A good example is an Rx for an over active bladder. This new patented medication often costs near or over $400 a month.  A generic prescription for an older medication, that does the same thing, could cost $45 to $65 a month using a discount card like GoodRx.  Consumers should check all prescriptions regardless of insurance coverage. You may find it less expensive to use a discount service like GoodRx versus your insurance plan.

Many Americans prescription drug coverage is either non-existent or getting poorer with each passing year.  Many are not old enough to qualify for Medicare and are forced to purchase insurance plans with limited prescription benefits. This is due to the high cost of insurance.

It is very important for the  consumer to educate themselves about medication safety. Both your health and pocketbook  are at risk.  Why is your doctor switching you to a new medication? Often no logical reason exists.  If the medication you are taking is working and safe it doesn’t make sense. This is common when you change doctors.  Do not accept “the new medication is better.” You need to ask him or her  if  studies are done comparing the two medications? If so, are they published?

There are over 7 billion people on the earth. Somehow the United States and  Canada  (350 million) consume over 75% of all prescriptions worldwide. Sadly this does not add up to a longer or healthier life. Outside these countries physicians actually prescribe a natural product or remedy 90% of the time.  When big money is at stake, revenue seem more important than medication safety.

Consumers read about lawsuit settlements. They sound impressive when we see $500 million or $600 million. Sadly the revenue generated from the sales of a product makes that settlement look like change  The bottom line is that it is up to you to research all available information about a Rx safety. Don’t assume that all safety issues for medications appear on your television by means of a commercial. That new Rx may not be as safe as you think.