4 ms·

Before you downvote op for an admittedly over-broad opinion you truly need to experience the USA model of overprescription, drug ads on billboards and all over

by themgt 9y ago

Before you downvote op for an admittedly over-broad opinion you truly need to experience the USA model of overprescription, drug ads on billboards and all over TV shows targeted by demographic, all sorts of IP shenanigans to extend IP/re-patent/pointlessly reformulate/roadblock generics/cherry-pick studies for new drugs that have no real benefit but a higher price. European medicine is indeed worlds different, and the European population is far less sick, overmedicated and suffering from iatrogenesis.

lbotos 9y ago
To put it in perspective, I live in the US and I have an ad for Xeljans stuck in my head. With the tagline "If methathrexate didn't work for you, maybe Xeljans is right." It's that insane right now.
jdietrich 9y ago
The US isn't synonymous with "modern medicine". It's a weird outlier in just about every respect. Vast amounts of clinical research and practice is happening outside of that bubble. While it's true that the US has a serious problem with overprescribing, it's also true that many other countries are seriously underprescribing psychiatric medication, due to a combination of cost and stigma. Mental illness represents an immense global disease burden, with depression being the single greatest problem. The disease burden of depression is higher in many lower- and middle-income countries than in the US, mainly due to a lack of treatment. Although there has been a great deal of controversy over antidepressant drugs, we are now highly confident that they are significantly more effective than placebo. Generic antidepressants are dirt cheap, with most costing less than $2 per month at international wholesale prices. We shouldn't lose sight of these facts. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32802-7/fulltext http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-67... http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)61611-6/fulltext http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-67...

by themgt 9y ago

lbotos 9y ago

To put it in perspective, I live in the US and I have an ad for Xeljans stuck in my head. With the tagline "If methathrexate didn't work for you, maybe Xeljans is right." It's that insane right now.

jdietrich 9y ago

The US isn't synonymous with "modern medicine". It's a weird outlier in just about every respect. Vast amounts of clinical research and practice is happening outside of that bubble. While it's true that the US has a serious problem with overprescribing, it's also true that many other countries are seriously underprescribing psychiatric medication, due to a combination of cost and stigma. Mental illness represents an immense global disease burden, with depression being the single greatest problem. The disease burden of depression is higher in many lower- and middle-income countries than in the US, mainly due to a lack of treatment. Although there has been a great deal of controversy over antidepressant drugs, we are now highly confident that they are significantly more effective than placebo. Generic antidepressants are dirt cheap, with most costing less than $2 per month at international wholesale prices. We shouldn't lose sight of these facts. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32802-7/fulltext http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-67... http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)61611-6/fulltext http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-67...