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Drug Trials a Lot Like Reality TV

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted May 14, 2009 12:51 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Only one couple from The Bachelor has actually gotten married. No Apprentice winner has become fabulously wealthy. American Idol produced Taylor Hicks. Reality shows don’t always make good on their real-world promises, and in that way, they’re a lot like clinical drug trials, writes pediatrician Darshak Sanghavi in Slate. A huge new study shows that Ritalin doesn’t really work, for example.

Participants in the original Ritalin trials were treated in a well-funded, highly supervised environment with specialized therapy and developmental experts on hand—“a setup that’s about as realistic as a date on The Bachelor,” Sanghavi argues. No wonder they scored better on short-term ADHD metrics. “Prescribing expensive and potentially dangerous drugs isn’t exactly like a reality television show,” Sanghavi concludes. “But perhaps we should at least be equally skeptical of their outcomes.”

Despite winning American Idol, Taylor Hicks hasn't exactly become a superstar.
Despite winning American Idol, Taylor Hicks hasn't exactly become a superstar.   (AP Photo)
Drug tests aren't necessarily all that reliable.
Drug tests aren't necessarily all that reliable.   (Shutterstock)
Jason Mesnick, left, selects Melissa Rycroft to propose to on the season finale of The Bachelor. It didn't exactly work out.
Jason Mesnick, left, selects Melissa Rycroft to propose to on the season finale of "The Bachelor." It didn't exactly work out.   (ABC)
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How, then, can we encourage approval of drugs like protease inhibitors and cut the number of failures like clofibrate? The truth is that you can't, just like you can't easily figure out how to guarantee a happy marriage or find a surefire pop icon. - Darshak Sanghavi

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COMMENTS
Showing 2 of 2 comments
kokuaguy
May 15, 2009 8:03 AM CDT
What a national disgrace our health care system is --- and in no respect moreso than the obscene "profits" which the government sets up the pharmaceutical insustry to steal.
wwwonderer
May 14, 2009 6:43 AM CDT
Yeah. This on the heals of the FDA stating the ONLY A DRUG can make certain health claims, in response to Cheerio's advertising. What a joke. Did they have anything to say about the claims Vioxx made? Big pharma has been screwing us out of too much money, and given us too few results. I hope we get health care under control REAL SOON.

Marijuana better than Ritalin
Salem News

 
reality TV • American Idol • ADHD • pharmaceutical industry • clinical trials • Ritalin • The Bachelor • The Apprentice • Taylor Hicks

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