Challenging Dangerous Drug and Devices
Women face health risks because of unsafe drugs, medical devices and medical treatments and also because of the unnecessary use of products and treatments that may be safe when used appropriately. This campaign protects women from those risks by challenging dangerous drugs and devices, by working to ensure that women have complete and accurate information about the health products and services that are marketed to them, and by strengthening the public protections against such threats.
After decades of NWHN advocacy to ensure that women would have reliable information about hormone therapy that was routinely prescribed at menopause, research exposed the truth about the risks and now-disproven claims for these drugs that had been promoted by multimillion dollar ad campaigns aimed at women and health care providers. When women finally got the facts -- that hormone therapy increases the chance of getting breast cancer and does not prevent heart disease -- millions decided to stop taking the drugs, and rates of breast cancer declined.
Today this work continues, as the Challenging Dangerous Drugs and Devices campaign takes on a wide array of unsafe and unproven drugs and medical devices that companies hope to build into blockbuster profit-makers, fueled by sales to women. Putting forward the lessons learned from the hormone therapy experience, the campaign also presses for rigorous approval standards and long-term evidence of safety when the Food and Drug Administration is evaluating drugs that women will use over many years and devices that will be implanted in a woman’s body. The campaign also advocates for higher quality health care for women and better use of health care resources by opposing the use of unnecessary and ineffective products and services.
Current NWHN advocacy priorities for protecting women from the risks of dangerous drugs and devices include:
- keeping dangerous and ineffective weight-loss products off the market and stopping misleading marketing campaigns that promise unproven health benefits for these products
- urging the FDA to change the label of osteoporosis drugs and tell clinicians that these drugs are no longer recommended for healthy women who want to prevent bone fractures
- pushing back against renewed efforts to promote unproven claims about the benefits of hormone therapy at menopause and pushing for investment in research to develop safer treatments for hot flashes
- strengthening the public protections that keep unsafe and ineffective products off the market
- NWHN’s statement in support of a bill to protect women from the serious, even life-threatening, health problems caused by dangerous medical devices.
- The NWHN explains why women who are struggling with incontinence and frequent urination need the FDA to set higher standards.
To stay informed about the Challenging Dangerous Drugs and Devices campaign and support these priorities, sign up to receive the NWHN’s alerts.
