Nowadays, much more precise studies of drug risks are required. They include extensive compilation of side effects in the international context, safety evaluations in clinical studies, and biochemical and genetic studies. Pharmacoepidemiology, a relatively recent branch of science, tries to achieve progress along the path to greater drug safety by international networking and worldwide data exchange. Yet, it would be utopian to believe in the possibility of developing, in the foreseeable future, medicaments without more or less severe adverse effects. One has to live with the risk associated with drugs, but the risk has to be viewed as a function of the therapy.
Serious risks tend to be rare and minimal risks comparatively frequent.
The central aspect in the determination and evaluation of drug risks is to achieve the maximum possible benefit in conjunction with the minimum possible risk of adverse effects to the patient. In the case of life-threatening diseases, such as AIDS or cancer, answers are fairly easy to obtain. However, in the large number of chronically stationary diseases, the degree of a successful treatment tends to vary over ranges which are difficult to measure. There is no doubt that the introduction of effective antibiotics against tuberculosis since the middle of our century has resulted in an improvement in the quality of life of tuberculosis patients. However, an attempt rigorously to measure quality of life has only recently taken place.3 The importance of such evaluations in connection with drug treatment is increasing insofar as people are living longer, and the quality of life is of increasing priority to older people.4 Improved quality of life has traditionally been regarded as an inevitable consequence of declining disease or life-prolonging measures.