Uncertainty in Pharmacology : Epistemology, Methods, and Decisions / / edited by Adam LaCaze, Barbara Osimani.

• Superior document: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, 338
• HerausgeberIn: LaCaze, Adam.; Osimani, Barbara.
• Place / Publishing House: Cham : : Springer International Publishing :, Imprint: Springer,, 2020.
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Edition: 1st ed. 2020.
• Language: English
• Series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, 338
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (475 pages).

This volume covers a wide range of topics concerning methodological, epistemological, and regulatory-ethical issues around pharmacology. The book focuses in particular on the diverse sources of uncertainty, the different kinds of uncertainty that there are, and the diverse ways in which these uncertainties are (or could be) addressed. Compared with the more basic sciences, such as chemistry or biology, pharmacology works across diverse observable levels of reality: although the first step in the causal chain leading to the therapeutic outcome takes place at the biochemical level, the end-effect is a clinically observable result—which is influenced not only by biological actions, but also psychological and social phenomena. Issues of causality and evidence must be treated with these specific aspects in mind. In covering these issues, the book opens up a common domain of investigation which intersects the deeply intertwined dimensions of pharmacological research, pharmaceutical regulation and the related economic environment. The book is a collective endeavour with in-depth contributions from experts in pharmacology, philosophy of medicine, statistics, scientific methodology, formal and social epistemology, working in constant dialogue across disciplinary boundaries.

Table of Contents

Part I. Epistemology -- 1. Defining Aspects of Mechanisms: Evidence-Based Mechanism (Evidence for a Mechanism), Mechanism-Based Evidence (Evidence from a Mechanism), and Mechanistic Reasoning -- 2. Causal Insights from Failure: Post-Marketing Risk Assessment of Drugs as aWay to Uncover Causal Mechanisms -- 3. Extrapolating from Model Organisms in Pharmacology -- 4. "Mechanistic Versus Statistical Extrapolation in Preclinical Research in Psychiatry: Challenging the Received View" -- 5. Analogy-Based Inference Patterns in Pharmacological Research -- 6. "In Silico Clinical Trials: a Possible Response to Complexity in Pharmacology" -- 7. "Uncertainty in Drug Discovery: Strategies, Heuristics and Technologies" -- 8. “Caught in the Amber”: a Sketch of Chemical Underdetermination -- Part II. Methods -- 9. A Millian Look at the Logic of Clinical Trials -- 10. "Learning by Difference: Placebo Effects and Specific Efficacy in Pharmacological RCTs" -- 11. "An Evidence-Hierarchical Decision Aid for Ranking in Evidence-Based Medicine" -- 12. "Assessing Drug Safety Assessment: Metformin Associated Lactic Acidosis" -- 13. Robust Biomarkers: Methodologically Tracking Causal Processes in Alzheimer’s Measurement -- 14. "Modelling Individual Response to Treatment and its Uncertainty: a Review of Statistical Methods and Challenges for Future Research" -- Part III. Decisions -- 15. Values in Pharmacology -- 16. "Humbug, the Council of Pharmacy and Chemistry, and the Origin of “the Blind Test” of Therapeutic Efficacy" -- 17. On the Normative Foundations of Pharmaceutical Regulation -- 18. After Disclosure -- 19. Sex, Drugs, and how to Deal with Criticism—The Case of Flibanserin.