Realities of drug use in society.

The objective of pharmacotherapy is to restore health or, at least, to limit illness and disability. Drug safety depends upon a strong, reliable chain from the basic science laboratory to the consumer. However, this chain is uneven in strength and the most unpredictable links involve the human factors which contribute substantially to adverse drug reactions. These include misprescribing by physicians, often because of educational deficiencies and sometimes because of the influence of manufacturers' promotional strategies, as well as noncompliance by consumers.