Therapeutic Significance of the Drug Lag

This study evaluates the therapeutic significance of those drugs commercially available in foreign countries but not in the United States at the end of 1976. Of 198 drugs reviewed, 14 per cent offered a potential therapeutic advance while 75 per cent appeared to offer little or no advance. Another 1...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical care 1980-07, Vol.18 (7), p.754-765
Main Authors: Daniels, Charles E., Wertheimer, Albert I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analgesics
Cardiovascular agents
Drug Evaluation
Drug Industry
Drug regulation
Europe
Health Services Accessibility
Industrial regulation
Japan
Legislation, Drug
Medical treatment
Pharmaceutical industry
Pharmaceutical preparations
Pharmaceutical Preparations - supply & distribution
Prescription drugs
Sodium
Sulfates
United States
United States Food and Drug Administration
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study evaluates the therapeutic significance of those drugs commercially available in foreign countries but not in the United States at the end of 1976. Of 198 drugs reviewed, 14 per cent offered a potential therapeutic advance while 75 per cent appeared to offer little or no advance. Another 10.5 per cent could not be properly evaluated. Division by therapeutic class showed some groups to be disproportionate to the overall percentages. The cardiovascular group had a higher-than-average ratio of drugs that offered major advances, 23 per cent. On the other extreme was the CNS group, for which a review of 37 drugs showed no drugs to represent a major advance. It is concluded that few "breakthrough" drugs in general use in other countries are being kept out of the United States drug market.
ISSN:0025-7079
1537-1948
DOI:10.1097/00005650-198007000-00005