Are new drugs better than existing ones?

How does a doctor know which of the various drugs available for an illness is the best for you? Usually a mix of experience and intuition, combined with interpreting the clinical trial reports and information from pharmaceutical company representatives.

It might seem safe to assume that new drugs coming on to the market must be better than the established ones. But, as research from the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Healthcare (IQWiG) shows, this assumption is shaky at best. Of 216 new approvals in Germany between 2011 and 2017 (including 152 new drug molecules and 64 new uses for existing drugs), only a quarter could conclusively prove they offered a ‘considerable or major benefit over the standard care’. That said, almost all of the new medicines were at least as good as their competition.