* Trephination is the act of boring holes into a patient’s skull for medical benefit. Although there are times this is medically indicated in the 21st century, there is a long history of using trephination for misguided reasons, such as to allow bad humors to escape.
† A good example of this involved afatinib, a drug for lung cancer, which was tested in less-developed countries against a regimen inferior to the global standard of care.
* In 2012 the FDA adopted the Breakthrough Therapy Designation. To achieve this designation, a drug must be intended “to treat a serious or life threatening disease or condition and have preliminary clinical evidence indicat[ing] that [it] may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development.” Drugs designated as breakthrough therapy receive expedited review.
* Vaccinations, both childhood and adult, are on this list.
† Consider the cholesterol-lowering statin medicine after a heart attack discussed above: 19 out of 20 patients given this well-proven medicine will not have their life saved by it.
Ending Medical Reversal Page 31
