NBC’s Dateline segment on new diet pills for weight loss was ripped on this blog:
“While this story naturally paints a rosy picture of weight-loss drugs, there are always potential problems. For instance, none of these drugs have yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, so there’s no telling when or if they will hit the market. The drugmakers report no serious side effects, but further study may pick something up.
The story only highlights people who had success with the drug, but such drugs never work dramatically for everyone. And, as is noted in the story, it’s possible that once someone is on one of these drugs, they’ll need to keep taking them for the long-term, perhaps even for life, to be able to keep the weight off. And at this point no one knows what effect that would have on the health of a patient.
So while it’s great to consider the possibilities of a weight-loss drug that makes it easy to lose however much excess weight you need to, it’s important to remember the reality isn’t always so rosy as the news stories would have you believe.”
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
We’ve written about the hype of liquid biopsies for years (see link in comment below). And now this…. https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/12/medicare-shouldnt-cover-liquid-biopsies-early-cancer-detection/
Case counts still matter. “(There) are stories that may not be told adequately if only hospitalizations and deaths are emphasized.” @garyschwitzer interviewed by @dbauder of @AP. https://apnews.com/article/omicron-changing-news-outlets-covid-data-da9272f7c4c8a109c3bfb56bed9e9c76
My friend Gary @garyschwitzer wrote to his city council representative in a Minnesota town about a Viva Las Vegas event scheduled for January.
The response he got seems to perfectly capture where we are now.
https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2021/12/2021-ends-with-covid-craziness-in-sports-and-politics/
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