In the pharmaceutical advertisements that Woloshin and Schwartz studied, they said they noticed a disconnect between the information presented to patients and the information needed for adequate treatment. The lack of disclosure about a drug's effectiveness is particularly concerning, Schwartz said. Mainstream package inserts and pharmaceutical ads do not incorporate specific information about how likely a drug is to cure an ailment. Pharmaceutical companies provide information that focuses on an advertised drug's superiority to a placebo rather than its effectiveness.
"It's not a question of whether, it's a question of how much," Schwartz said.
Consumers cannot effectively gauge how well a drug works by taking the drug themselves, according to Woloshin and Schwartz. There are no federal regulations requiring drug companies to include data about the drug's approval process by the Food and Drug Administration.
In response, the professors' leaflets quantify the side effects and benefits of each drug, incorporating the results of the trials presented to the FDA for approval. The leaflets list the purpose of the drug, the consumer for whom it is intended, how long the drug has been approved, what precautions the consumer should take before using the drug and what alternative treatments the patient might consider. They also include a section that offers the drug's "bottom line," or what a consumer can expect after taking it.
The researchers hope that presenting information through leaflets will help consumers and doctors make more educated decisions when treating illnesses. Woloshin said that this method will help reduce the use of ineffective drugs.
"Hopefully it will promote wiser, more informed use of prescription drugs," he said.
Just as consumers have broad access to information about food via nutrition labels, they should have similar knowledge about prescription drugs. Both Woloshin and Schwartz praised the plain presentation of nutrition information on food packaging.
College Health Services director Jack Turco agreed that patients have inadequate access to information about prescription drugs.
"I think information that comes for prescriptions could be a valuable tool if you could make it understandable while still clearly specific," Turco said.
Patients can take other measures to ensure that they have all of the information they need, including discussing prescriptions with their pharmacists, he said.
Addressing individual patient needs more thoroughly is a personalized task, according to Turco.
Dick's House pharmacist Jeff Zarrella said the law mandates that pharmacists counsel patients before they receive medication, but he still sees the need for an easy-to-read leaflet format for prescription drugs.
"Potentially it could be beneficial if they could be put together in such a way that simplifies the information and makes it less confusing, but is still complete enough," Zarrella said. "That would be a real step forward."
He said he was concerned that shorter leaflets could omit crucial pieces of information and potentially violate FDA regulations, since drug companies are obligated by law to list all of their drugs' potential harms on their packages.
Despite these concerns, Zarrella said he appreciated the researchers' efforts to make the facts more understandable.
"I think it's a noble task to try to do it," he said.
