AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION REPORT ON SERIOUS DRUG SIDE-EFRECTS.

A study conducted by researchers at Yale University’s Department of Medicine and Public Health reports that almost 1/3 of new drugs approved by the US FDA and ended up years later to show unexpected serious if not life-threatening effects are complications as a result, warnings were later added. The study covered the period of time from 2001 to 2010. The study was reported in and the Journal of the American medical Association.

The study included top-selling prescription drugs used in the treatment of depression, arthritis, infections, and blood clots. The safety issues involved problems such as serious skin reactions, liver damage, cancer, and even death.

On the average, these problems surfaced about four years after initial approval. Recently, there has been increasing pressure on the FDA to speed up the regulatory review process in order to get new drugs to the market sooner. The result is that many of these drugs are placed on the market without full and complete information as to their safety risks.