Can you recall the FDA defintion of a side effect? I can't recite the precise defintion, but I know it goes something like this: "Any unwanted, unintended, noxious effect of a drug when given in typical therapeutic doses." Howver, a side-effect can only be defnined in the context of its desired effect. Further, the side-effect may have much more market potnetioal thant the"regular" effect. Considet he example below.
Quoting from New York Times aticle: "Latisse is a recent example of just that. Like Botox (and like a number of other prescription drugs, including Viagra), Latisse came about indirectly. During clinical testing of a glaucoma medication called Lumigan, Allergan’s researchers noted a side effect: eyelash growth. Recognizing the market potential for such a thing, the company conducted a new safety-and-efficacy study, this time making the former side effect the main focus, explained Robert Grant, the president of Allergan Medical, the company’s aesthetic-products division. In December, the Food and Drug Admionistration gave Allergan clearance for this new use. By May, Latisse ads were on the air, and in its first three months on the market, the product totaled about $12 million in sales. That’s nothing compared with Botox, which has annual sales that exceed half a billion dollars for cosmetic use,but it does suggest that there is a bigger market for eyelash-hypotrichosis relief than you might have guessed before Latisse’s promotional campaign began.
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