Drug Effectiveness and Safety

Excerpt

To the editor: Dr. Morrelli's discourse on propranolol (1) is an interesting one. Two pages of references accompany a three-page contribution, the major substance of which is a set of rather offhand opinions and recommendations, for which little documentation is provided. "The physician in practice may experiment. . . ."; "The FDA should not be unduly pressured. . . ."; "the willingness of medical journals to publish uncritical studies . . . ."

Virtually identical comments could be made about any drug in the pharmacopeia. Different studies do indeed show conflicting results, and it is doubtful that any drug is