Page 46 - Prevention - USA (April 2020)
P. 46
H E A LTH
The Doctor Is In
Can You Trust
That Product? through an arduous approval
process (showing that they
BY L AUREN STREICHER, M.D.
work and that their benefits
outweigh their risks) before
getting to market. The average
ou grab a health time it takes for a drug to hit
product off the shelf— the pharmacy is 12 years, and
maybe it promises to hundreds of millions of dollars
Yleakproof your bladder are spent on research, devel-
or erase your wrinkles. And opment, and trials. Note that
look, there’s an FDA logo right the FDA does not actually test
on the product’s package! So these drugs; it simply reviews
you feel hopeful that it might the testing processes.
actually work.
Surprise: Many products FDA CLEARED:
with an FDA logo haven’t A Step Down
gone through any kind of Three classes of devices require
testing process to make sure FDA clearance, from no-risk
their claims are legitimate. products needing no premarket
When you look more closely review (such as dental floss) to
at that reassuring blue FDA devices for medical use (like
logo, there’s a good chance heart valves) that are poten-
you’ll see that it says FDA tially high-risk and seek full
listed or FDA registered FDA approval. Keep in mind
rather than FDA cleared that some devices are eligible
or FDA approved. So what’s for FDA clearance if they’re
the difference? similar to one that the FDA
Dr. Streicher is already deemed safe and more
a clinical professor FDA APPROVED: effective than a placebo, even if
of obstetrics ILLUSTRATION BY KATHRYN RATHKE.
and gynecology The Toughest Category that happened years before.
at Northwestern Prescription drugs and So an FDA-cleared product
University’s medical devices for specific is likely safe, but it won’t
Feinberg School
of Medicine. medical conditions have to go necessarily work for everyone.
44 PREVENTION.COM • AP R I L 2020
