Old Faithful: The Clinical Case for Choosing Established Medications Over Newer Alternatives
The relentless introduction of new pharmaceutical agents creates pressure on clinicians to prescribe the latest options, even when decades of evidence support older, less expensive alternatives. This article examines the structural forces—marketing, formulary design, and medicolegal anxiety—that distort prescribing decisions, and offers a defensible framework for selecting established agents when the clinical evidence genuinely favors them.