Take the FDA Consumer Quiz

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How's your knowledge of health topics such as cancer treatments, vaccines, food additives, and approved drugs?
Find out by taking our quiz.

Hint: The answers to all these questions can be found within articles in the
January-February 2007 issue of FDA Consumer (and through the link at the bottom of this page).

Take any of our past quizzes

1. During clinical trials of cancer drugs, a new drug is usually compared to what?

a. an inactive substance (placebo)

b. a placebo and at least one other drug

c. a drug or a combination of drugs that are commonly accepted and widely used to treat the same type of cancer

d. every other drug approved to treat the same type of cancer

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2. What is adjuvant treatment for cancer?

a. therapy given in place of chemotherapy

b. therapy given in place of radiation

c. therapy given in place of surgery to remove a tumor

d. “talk therapy” in a support group to help people cope with cancer

e. therapy given after the main treatment to lower the chance of a cancer returning

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3. When we speak of an FDA-approved cancer drug, what does “safe” mean?

a. There are no serious side effects at least 75 percent of the time it’s used.

b. The benefits of the drug outweigh the risks for its intended use in the population the drug is intended to treat.

c. There is no possible risk of death when taking the drug.

d. More than 50 percent of patients in clinical trials said they were willing to take the drug despite its risks.

e. When taken properly, the drug causes only mild side effects.

4. What is a bacteriophage?

a. the stage of growth when a bacterium is non-infective

b. a killer bacterium

c. a mixture of bacteria used in cancer treatments

d. any virus that infects bacteria

e. any bacterium that infects viruses

5. How many adults die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases?

a. 5,000

b. 12,000

c. 22,000

d. more than 30,000

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6. To market a new food additive, a manufacturer must:

a. petition the FDA for its approval

b. submit safety information on the additive to the FDA concurrent with marketing the ingredient

c. submit an application to the FDA similar to that used in the drug approval process

d. report the new ingredient to the FDA before marketing it

e. ensure the safety of the ingredient in its own tests, but no information is required to be submitted to the FDA

7. Which of the following vaccines was recently licensed by the FDA and includes adolescents in the target population?

a. RotaTeq to protect against rotavirus

b. Zostavax to protect against shingles

c. Gardasil to protect against the human papillomavirus

d. MMR vaccine to protect against measles, mumps, and rubella

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8. Roughly what percentage of prescribed drugs is unapproved?

a. less than 2 percent

b. 10 percent

c. 20 percent

d. more than 40 percent

9. Which of the following statements about unapproved drugs is false?

a. Most unapproved drugs require FDA approval.

b. A few unapproved drugs were “grandfathered” under older standards.

c. An unapproved drug with no known safety problems isn’t required to undergo FDA review.

d. Some unapproved drugs are advertised in medical journals.

Your Score is:

Scoring

7 to 9 points: Excellent! Go to the head of the class.
4 to 6 points: Not too bad. You can skip cleaning the chalkboard erasers today.
3 points and below: Oops! Stay after school and reread the appropriate chapters.

Go to the Answers Page

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