Benefits Of Off-Label Drug Use
Some examples of common off-label drug uses are:
Chemotherapy
A common example of this would be a chemotherapy used to treat one type of cancer can be used to try and treat another. One question to ask if given an off-label drug to treat a condition would be what are the benefits and risks associated with treating the medical condition with this drug.
Asthma
Asthma medications can be very helpful for people with lung conditions with similar symptoms to asthma.
Heart Attack
Most heart attacks happen when when cholesterol builds up in the coronary arteries rupture. When they do they attract platelets to their surface, which can trigger blood clotting. Aspiring is used to inhibit the platelets.
Chronic Pain
Neurological drugs can be used to treat people that have chronic pain
Adult Vs Children Medication
Prescribing a drug to a patient which the drug was not originally meant for. An example of this would be a medication approved for adult use which is prescribed for a child. This is very common practice as lots of drugs are not able to be tested on adults due to the fact that testing on children is very hard to achieve due to the very strict laws that govern it. However this does not mean that it will not also treat a child patient.
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Bibliography
1) http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0802107
2) https://www.fda.gov/forpatients/other/offlabel/default.htm
3) http://www.rotlaw.com/legal-library/what-is-off-label-use/
6) http://www.stus.com/stus-cartoon.php?cartoon=hea0039
7) https://i0.wp.com/www.chrisbeatcancer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/not-approved-text1.jpg
8) http://news.stanford.edu/news/2008/december3/gifs/label_600web.jpg
9) http://elliho.com/featured/off-lable-drug-usage-the-voodoo-of-science/