Prescription drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for specific uses (or indications) to treat specific conditions or diseases. Physicians may prescribe a drug for a use that’s not described in the approved labeling if it seems reasonable or appropriate to them. This is what’s called “off-label use.”

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7 Words (and More) You Shouldn't Use in Medical News

Years ago, the publisher of this site wrote an essay with the above title. The words were:
• Cure
• Miracle
• Breakthrough
• Promising
• Dramatic
• Hope
• Victim

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News from Scientific Meetings

Journalists and consumers who rely on information presented in talks at scientific meetings need to realize how incomplete that information may be.

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Absolute vs. Relative Risk

Radio commentator Paul Harvey has a feature called "The Rest of the Story." Researchers, clinicians or journalists who only report on relative differences in making claims about a new idea should tell the rest of the story.

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Number Needed to Treat

The number needed to treat, or NNT, is the number of patients who need to be treated to prevent one additional bad outcome, calculated as 1/Absolute Risk Reduction. This is a brief introduction to the concept of NNTs.

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Commercialism

The U.S. spends more money per capita on health care than any other country. So it is not surprising that there are many commercial interests in the health care industry looking for good publicity from journalists.

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Single Source Stories

The Statement of Principles of the Association of Health Care Journalists states that journalists should: "Recognize that most stories involve a degree of nuance and complexity that no single source could provide. Journalists have a responsibility to present diverse viewpoints in context.”

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FDA Approval Not Guaranteed

Many stories about drugs that are still in clinical trials include some estimate or projection of when the drug will be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for approval, when the FDA might approve the drug, or when the drug might be available on the market. Many times, such projections are just shots in the dark.

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Phases of Drug Trials

Journalists who report on drugs while they are still in clinical trials need to understand the distinction between Phases I, II, and III of drug trials. It is misleading to report bold or conclusive statements about how well a drug works when it is only in Phase I trials.

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Medical Devices

According to journalist Trudy Lieberman: "In the name of news and the desire to build audience, the media are stimulating demand for medical tests and treatments that are unproven and untested, and may even be harmful. The lure of stories about medical breakthroughs and miracles is so strong that the press rushes to report on them even if there is little or no evidence that they are safe and effective.”

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Animal & Lab Studies

Stories about research in animals or about research in the laboratory but not yet in humans (sometimes called pre-clinical or in-vitro studies) should include warnings about how this research may not pan out in people.

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