From the University of Michigan:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/11...ges/62294.html

Interesting. I would have thought this was already the process in 'testing' of new drugs or off-label use of drugs...perhaps not. Nice to know they are using imaging now.

I still think it will be trial & error though since everyone responds differently to medications...so what works for one might not work for another.

Drug companies do not do extensive work on their new drugs like doctors and many patients think. Most of the data on drugs comes out in bits and pieces for years later.

They have to show that a therapeutic goal is reached, and that toxicity is minimal. (how the statins got past that is a wonder in itself!) Big Pharma does lie and does massage data.

But for example in the case of SSRIs the research now shows that the serotonin link to depression does not really exist, it was only a "theory".
And that SSRIs don't really work!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mar..._b_550098.html

All the while gabapentin was being prescribed to people, the actual mechanism of how it worked, was never elucidated. The main theory is that gabapentin affects calcium signaling in the spinal cord. But no one knows for sure. It is all just one big experiment.

From the article:
Interesting, because all three of those tests have been done numerous times on things like marijuana, cocaine, ecstacy, and opioids...

Doc