A great victory for us on this page. 2-3 years ago we discussed the HIDDEN RISKS of Lipitor from first principles and probabilistic arguments, namely that administering the drug for nonsevere cases would show side effects worse than benefits, simply using the argument that up to 2-3 standard deviations, nature has encountered the problem and has to have a selfcorrecting mechanism. We also said that there are many many more nonseverely affected patients than seriously ill ones (5000 times more) and that pharma would go for these.

The point was NONLINEARITY of Number Needed to Treat to condition and its probabilistic consequences.

Now 3 years later the side effects are starting to show. We can expect similar effects for any drug mass marketed to a wide semi-healthy patient, rather client base. Remarkably pharma understands the local problem (side effects) not the metaproblem (iatrogenics & small deviations). We called this NAIVE INTERVENTIONISM.

http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2014/08/08/pfizer-faces-numerous-lawsuits-over-lipitor-side-effects/

Pfizer Faces Numerous Lawsuits Over Lipitor Side Effects

A fast-growing number of lawsuits have been filed women who allege that the…

blogs.wsj.com|By Ed Silverman

via A great victory for us on this page. 2-3 years… – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.