Louis A. Morris

Many see Vioxx and Avandia as clear signs that the drug safety system has failed. As soon as reports of these drugs' adverse events began to flood the media, consumers—and Congress—demanded to know: "Why didn't we know sooner?"

A new class of scales that can help capture drug effects—not necessarily disease impacts, as quality-of-life instruments currently do—will likely be needed to identify the meaning of the drug's benefits to patients

What's old and established is in, what's new—and once interpreted as"better"—is out