How the media left the evidence out in the cold
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TL;DR
Quest for cures in news coverage of drug trial was a disservice to the public, according to a report from the National Academy of Sciences.
Abstract
It is understandable that US newspapers and television stations would be interested in a story about a new drug for the common cold. Americans have one billion cold infections each year, losing millions of days of work or school (www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/cold.htm). What is difficult to understand is why and how so many journalists became cheerleaders for an investigational drug that, in the end, failed to pass the test of clinical trials.trials.