Fluoxetine continues to be remarkably successful; greater volumes of this drug are sold than for any other antidepressant in the world. Prozac(R) has also become a household name. In this article we examine the circumstances that surround this success, and the evidence base that supports it....

Implementing the findings of research to change the behaviour of health care professionals has become an increasingly prominent issue. However, designing valid studies to evaluate different methods of achieving changes requires considerable care and there are a number of pitfalls evident from...

Pharmaceutical prescribing currently represents around 10% of total National Health Service expenditure, and is one of the most inflationary elements of spending (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology 1993). Between 1980 and 1990, the overall cost of a prescription increased by 19%....

There is increasing professional and policy interest in the role of clinical guidelines for promoting effective and efficient health care. The NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme identified an urgent need, when such guidelines are produced, to develop a framework and methods for...