> They do this all the time with every drug the FDA tests.
Not necessarily. Imagine testing a drug that's supposed to reduce the suicide rate among teenagers, and yes -- it's been done.
Compare suicide rates, write up the result, then spend the next five years in court listening to outraged parents.
The outcome is that these kinds of drugs are no longer tested on humans. Antidepressants are at the top of the list of drugs that are difficult to realistically test, which explains why they were falsely believed to work for so long. On that topic, a recent meta-analysis reveals that they don't work:
A quote: "Meta-analyses of antidepressant medications have reported only modest benefits over placebo treatment, and when unpublished trial data are included, the benefit falls below accepted criteria for clinical significance."
Translation: "we located all those studies the drug companies suppressed, and when they are included in a balanced analysis, it wipes out the scientific justification for prescribing these drugs."
Not necessarily. Imagine testing a drug that's supposed to reduce the suicide rate among teenagers, and yes -- it's been done.
Compare suicide rates, write up the result, then spend the next five years in court listening to outraged parents.
The outcome is that these kinds of drugs are no longer tested on humans. Antidepressants are at the top of the list of drugs that are difficult to realistically test, which explains why they were falsely believed to work for so long. On that topic, a recent meta-analysis reveals that they don't work:
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fj...
A quote: "Meta-analyses of antidepressant medications have reported only modest benefits over placebo treatment, and when unpublished trial data are included, the benefit falls below accepted criteria for clinical significance."
Translation: "we located all those studies the drug companies suppressed, and when they are included in a balanced analysis, it wipes out the scientific justification for prescribing these drugs."