Pharmaceutical Industry Issues and Physical Therapy

Mendelson, Zachariah, de Ferranti, and Bickel (2013) stated that almost one clinically-relevant drug has been recalled every month in the last five years in the United States. That statistic is very alarming to anyone who reads it, especially to a physical therapist like me who knows the adverse drug effects that medications may exert on patients.

Amongst the various questions that come to mind, the most significant in terms of public safety is that of information dissemination. How timely are consumers informed of drug recalls? When a decision is made to pull out a certain drug from the market due to safety or efficacy reasons, how is public safety guaranteed through awareness? “J&J” (2010) reported that popular over-the-counter drugs manufactured by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) including, but not limited to, Tylenol and Motrin were recalled due to the reported illnesses of 70 consumers. Ill-effects such as vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and nausea were caused by batches of these drugs which had an associated moldy smell (“J&J”, 2010).

These are drugs that are commonly found in my household. I’ve used both Tylenol and Motrin on various occasions and throughout the years, but I did not know that there was a recall made that year until I had read the aforementioned journal article. It made me wonder, did I or a member of my family experience any of the symptoms related to these supposedly recalled drugs that year? If they had been recalled because of more physically-disabling, or even fatal, drug effects, would the public have been made more aware and more effectively for that matter? Would I or my family been spared of a life-threatening experience?

Mendelson et al. (2013) highlighted the lack of recognition that the pharmaceutical industry has ascribed to the use of informatics tools to disseminate information in response to drug recalls. Had there been a standardized way to effectively and efficiently communicate the drug recall of those aforementioned household drugs manufactured by J&J, how many consumers would have been spared from suffering the reported symptoms?

My earlier thoughts beg further questioning. Which drugs on the market nowadays are truly safe? What does it take for a drug to be proven as commercially-safe? Who should I turn to and trust with regards to drug safety-analyses? Avorn (2006) stated that the public relies on the pharmaceutical industry to conduct medical research on the associated risks and benefits of medications, which opens up possible bias regarding findings. Ross, Gross, and Krumholz (2012) exposed the issues associated with drug trials conducted by pharmaceutical industries which include the withholding of findings, marketing ploys, and lack of accountability. Avorn (2006) made perfect sense in stating that pharmaceutical companies cannot be expected to fund studies that could undermine the efficacy of their products or to reveal findings that would state the same.

Reading these articles has made this fact blatantly important: the government must find a way to support independent studies of commercially-available drugs which could ensure public safety and cost-effective health care in long run! It would be logical to think that health care costs would be lowered if the drugs administered to patients are safe and truly work. The more effective the medication is, the less time an individual needs to get better and limit the utilization of health care resources. It is but a simple, yet essential, deduction. Ross et al. (2012) stressed the importance of collaborations between academic physicians and the pharmaceutical industry to improve the health care sector through scientific drug-related studies.

Physical therapy and the successful rehabilitation of these patients may depend on how therapeutic strategies are hindered or facilitated by drug intake. If adverse effects are limited, proven by unbiased research and clinical trials, then intervention strategies employed by physical therapists may be modified to accommodate drug effects and ensure optimal outcome measures are still attained.

Healthcare standards may also be elevated by the results of unbiased studies which will inevitably cascade into improved therapeutic care. How a child responds to administered drugs directly affects my treatment plan. The use of medications may affect how effectively I can facilitate the attainment of developmental goals. It is of significant value to me, as a physical therapist, that more unbiased research is conducted regarding pharmacological use in various patient populations.

References
Avorn, J. (2006). Dangerous deception – hiding the evidence of adverse drug effects. New England Journal of Medicine, 355(21), 2169-2171. doi:10.1056/NEJMp068246

J&J alerts consumers of huge drug recall. (2010). Contemporary Pediatrics, 27(2), 16. Retrieved from http://contemporarypediatrics.modernmedicine.com/

Mendelson, M. M., Zachariah, J. P., de Ferranti, S. D., & Bickel, J. P. (2013). Leveraging electronic health records to notify pediatric patients of a drug recall. The Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, 167(12), 1170-1171. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.2755

Ross, J. S., Gross, C. P., & Krumholz, H. M. (2012). Promoting transparency in pharmaceutical industry-sponsored research. American Journal of Public Health, 102(1), 72-80. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2011.300187