The other day, to the consternation of some, I discussed my opposition to “off label” prescribing, meaning when a drug is approved for use to treat one malady, it is prescribed for a different one even though the medication was not specifically tested for that circumstance. To me, off label prescribing is a form of human experimentation that should either not be allowed or which should be thoroughly disclosed to the patient at the time of prescribing—with potential civil liability if things go wrong.
That is not to say that when a drug is found to have potential off label uses, it should just be ignored. The proper approach, it seems to me, is to alert the medical community and FDA, and then test it properly for the new use. And that is exactly what has been done with a cancer drug that may be efficacious for treating MS. From the story:
The blockbuster cancer drug Rituxan may help treat multiple sclerosis, according to the results of a small clinical trial that opens up a broad new approach to understanding and possibly treating the disabling disease.
The study encouraged Rituxan’s co-developers Genentech Inc. and Biogen-Idec, which hope larger trials will establish the drug as an approved treatment for the disabling neurological disorder. But the trial’s more sweeping impact may come from the light it sheds on the mechanisms of the disease.
Such off label trials would move much faster than the original testing process because so much would already be known about the drug’s working and risks. This is the proper way to go.
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