Off-label and oft-prescribed

[摘要] Off-label use of medications, ie, prescribing drugs for indications notspecifi ed in their US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approvedlabels, is somewhat tainted. Companies have been penalized for promoting such use, and physicians criticized for receiving compensation foradvocating this in educational venues. None of us can give a talk that is approved forcontinuing medical education credit by the Accreditation Council for ContinuingMedical Education without stating whether we will be discussing any off-label druguse, with the not-so-subtle implication that we may be hawking a bill of goods forsome fi nancial benefi t and that the attendees may be unable to determine for themselves the credibility of the speaker and the potential clinical benefi ts of the citedtherapies based on data provided. Then there are issues with insurance payment formedications utilized for off-label indications—without FDA approval, the drugs aredeemed to be experimental. Yet, there are situations where off-label use of certainmedications is of unequivocal benefi t to patients.

[学科分类] 卫生学