It seems like the "news" sometimes acts as just another advertising channel for selling drugs.  But when you actually examine how much clinical benefit a lot of people get from the "latest" drugs, the statistics are less than impressive or even misleading.  After all, a drug which halves the number of heart attacks seems like a very potent treatment.  Its an impressive number which could go in all the ads to catch your attention (or your doctor's attention).  But if your starting risk for having a heart attack is small to begin with the actual benefit from the drug is much much less.  When that is the case, a lot of people have to take the drug everyday for it to make any positive clinical difference in the community.  Read more here .  (This pdf first appeared in "The Star" in Nov 2008).