[Drugs epidemiology].

Abstract

Any drug can be construed as a universal marker of physicians' tasks and knowledge (or ignorance thereof). Presently, pre-marketing studies and trials imply that, after a thorough, basic and/or preclinical research has been conducted, a clinical research stage is in a position to be carried on over a 4- to 6-year lapse of time so that all necessary data are collected thus paving the way for the marketing of the drug involved to be eventually authorized. In most countries, an adequate regulation framework is required in order to eliminate unnecessary drugs, besides setting up efficiency, innocuousness, and purpose criteria for new drugs to be approved.