Well, what a surprise.
A large German study has found that very few new prescription drugs that enter the market actually help the patient. Clearly, as I’ve said all along, the real reason why big pharma keeps pumping out new drugs has everything to do with replacing profits from older drugs that have gone off-patent…and nothing to do with improved effectiveness.
Of course, Donald Light, Ph.D., a former colleague of mine at Penn, came to this very same conclusion six full years ago! Plus, his analysis covered a much longer span of time than the new study. And it looked at the effectiveness of new prescription drugs that entered the U.S. market and that were approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Specifically, Dr. Light found that a staggering 90 percent of all new drugs that hit the U.S. market over the last 30 years were no more effective—or just slightly more effective—than older drugs.
Which means just 10 percent of new drugs represented true therapeutic breakthroughs!
Not to mention, 50 percent of the new drugs were worse in terms of safety than the older drugs. (Which explains why the pitter-patter of potential side effects seems to be growing longer and faster in drug commercials!) In addition, the new drugs were far more expensive than the older, generic drugs, which is all that matters to big pharma!
For these reasons, I’ve always advised, if you must take a drug, to stick to older, generic versions—which have been monitored among real patients for what the FDA calls “post-marketing surveillance.” This monitoring gives us a better picture of the drug’s safety and side effects among the general population.
Which is hugely important…
Because, as I’ve told you before, big pharma “cherry picks” the participants they use in the clinical trials they submit to the FDA to gain approval for a drug. (Most often by excluding older people and sick patients who actually need the treatments.) So, then, when the new drug does gain FDA approval and hit the market, we don’t know if it will actually work for the people it’s intended to help—or if it will actually cause them harm!
So, now, let’s get back to the new German study…
Almost 75 percent of new drugs offer no benefits
For this new analysis, German researchers assessed the effectiveness of 216 drugs that entered the German market between 2011 and 2017. And here’s what they found:
- 25 percent had “considerable” or “major” added benefit
- 16 percent had minor added benefit or no measurable benefit
- 58 percent “did not prove an added benefit over standard care”
So, at the end of the day, a staggering 74 percent of the new drugs offered no significant help to the patient.
Of course, some types of drugs fared worse than others…
For example, new drugs to treat neurological or psychiatric problems were the least effective—with just 6 percent showing added benefit. And new drugs to treat Type II diabetes also performed poorly, with just 17 percent of them showing any added benefit.
Indeed, I’ve been warning you about the dangers of new Type II diabetes drugs for a while now. Most of them are based on a fundamentally flawed approach for treating adult-onset Type II diabetes.
Plus, as I reported last month, two-thirds of the people diagnosed with pre-diabetes never go on to develop the full-blown disease. Even without taking a drug!
Now, for those already diagnosed with Type II diabetes, metformin was the only drug that I’ve ever recommended. This time-tested, generic drug actually derives from French lilac, an ancient European folk remedy. And it seems to work by improving the absorption and metabolism of sugar in the gastrointestinal (GI) microbiome, the environment in your gut where billions of healthy bacteria thrive.
But even metformin has some serious side effects, including the depletion of critical vitamin B12.
Which is one reason why I’m shifting my focus to non-drug approaches. In fact, there’s a ton of emerging research showing you can prevent—and even reverse—Type II diabetes without resorting to drugs. (You can obtain a full report about the uncommonly effective, commonsense strategies to prevent—and even reverse—Type II diabetes in my online learning protocol, the Integrative Protocol for Defeating Diabetes. To learn more about this special online learning tool, or to enroll today, simply click here.)
Likewise, the science on all the natural approaches to lower blood pressure has gotten significantly better in recent years. Which is great news, because there are major problems with the current crop of “standard” drugs—including the older, generic versions—used to treat high blood pressure, as I explained earlier this month.
It all comes down to this…
Solid science shows that diet, supplementation, mind-body approaches, and other lifestyle habits can help lower your blood pressure and protect your heart naturally…without the use of harmful drugs. You can learn all about this drug-free approach in my Heart Attack Prevention and Repair Protocol. Click here to learn more or to sign up today!
You can also get the full story about why I’ll never take another blood pressure medication again in the latest issue of Insiders’ Cures (“Here’s why I no longer recommend any blood pressure medication”). If you’re not yet a subscriber, now’s the perfect time to get started!
Source:
“New drugs: where did we go wrong and what can we do better?” BMJ 2019;366:l4340. doi: doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4340