Good Morning America proclaims breakthrough again

Given the frequency of breakthroughs announced on ABC's Good Morning America, there must be nothing left for medicine to cure.

The latest: a "Breakthrough Obesity Pill."

Sometimes I wonder why we bother, but we reviewed their "effort" on HealthNewsReview.org. Summary:

This story miscasts an experimental treatment for obesity as a potential "silver bullet" for people wanting to drop a few pounds. Although the reporter emphasizes that one component of the Contrave pill has been linked to higher risk of suicidal thoughts, other harms and limitations of the drug are skipped over. Notably, viewers are not alerted to the absence of independent information. They are not told that the drug trial results have not been reviewed by any independent experts. What's more, the fact that the doctor interviewed in the studio is a paid consultant of the manufacturer is portrayed as evidence of expertise, rather than a warning sign of conflicts of interest.