Quote of the Week

From the New England Journal of Medicine (Nov 9, 2006):

Allistair Wood said: "It is eye-opening to review the list of the 10 top-selling drugs and recognize how few of them show any evidence of superiority over generic drugs, even though billions of dollars are spent on them. This is truly an indictment of our prescribing practices. <sup>"

Ya think? I suppose someone needs to point out the obvious. Physicians are smart people, almost by definition, yet prescribing practices are often nonsensical. Who can really claim that advertising to consumers and physicians, providing travel junkets for physicians, and provding free merchandise and free meals for physicians and their staff (and the list goes on) does not lead to incredibly wasteful prescribing practices?</sup>