Resources for Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Consumers tune out FDA warnings

money.cnn.com

A flood of drug safety warnings from the Food and Drug Administration may have physicians and patients suffocating from information saturation. Experts say there are too many red flags for them to pay attention.

"It seems that almost weekly we're getting a safety missive," said Les Funtleyder, an analyst who covers the pharmaceutical industry for trading firm Miller Tabak. "We're almost getting safety fatigue."

Already this year, the FDA has issued a number of high-profile warnings. Patients flood their doctors with anxious phone calls. But doctors and pharmacists don't always know whether the risk outweighs the benefit, and patients can panic.

"I think the biggest problem is when patients just decide that everything is too risky and stop taking their medications without telling anybody," said Funtleyder. "It's more risky to not take the medicines than to take the medicines."

View the Resource

Share or bookmarklet this web page at: