Critical Rethinking Medications: Dr. Jerry Avorn on the Drugs We Take

Behind every prescription drug is a story. And it is rarely the sunny beach scene with jazz flute you are sold in the ads. On a recent episode ofCauses or Cures, I talk with Dr. Jerry Avorn, a Harvard Medical School professor, longtime drug-safety watchdog, and author ofRethinking Medications: Truth, Power, and the Drugs You Take. He pulls back the curtain on the forces that shape which drugs get approved, how quickly they hit the market, what they cost, and how much or how little we really know about their safety. If you have ever wondered why new drugs seem to launch at lightning speed, why the side effects list scrolls on longer than your grocery receipt, or why something your tax dollars helped fund ends up costing you a fortune, this episode is for you. We talk about: Dr. Avorn’s mission is clear: to foster patients and doctors actually understand what they are prescribing or swallowing and to show the powerful forces shaping those choices. Why listen? Because medications are never just about chemistry. They are also about politics, profit, and power. Knowing the story behind the pill in your hand could save more than your wallet. Links & Resources:📖Grab the book:Rethinking Medications: Truth, Power, and the Drugs You Take(Simon & Schuster, 2025) Who is Dr. Avorn? Jerry Avorn, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a senior internist at Mass General Brigham. He founded a leading research center at Harvard to study medication use, outcomes, costs, and policy, and pioneered “academic detailing,” an evidence-based approach that delivers prescribing information directly to clinicians. He is the author ofPowerful Medicines: The Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugsand has written or co-written over 600 scientific papers, as well as commentaries inThe New York Times, The Washington Post, JAMA,andThe New England Journal of Medicine. Tune in to Rethinking Medications Here! Stuff from the Blog The Plural of Anecdote is NOT Misinformation Has Medicine Lost Its Mind? With Dr. Robert Smith Connect with Dr. Eeks:ğŸŒ�Blooming Wellness📸Instagram| ğŸ‘�Facebook| ğŸ�¦X| â–¶ï¸�YouTube| ğŸ�µTikTok📬Subscribe to my newsletterfor monthly expert interviews on vitality topics that matter.