Many media outlets, including the New York Times, reported on concerns about the validity of a huge, and hugely important, clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) involving a drug taken by millions to decrease their risk of stroke.

What’s at issue? Whether the object of the trial–the now best-selling blood thinner Xarelto (rivaroxaban)–really does have the advantage of being safer than the traditionally used blood-thinner Coumadin (warfarin). That’s now open to question, as the BMJ reported, because of a malfunctioning blood test device used in the trial. Those in the Coumadin group may have received higher doses of Coumadin than would have been optimal, leading to an increased risk of serious bleeding. Problems with the device were reported as far back as 2002, and it was recalled by the FDA in 2014.

The sale of testosterone is a booming business. Some men take supplements of the hormone hoping to increase libido, energy, muscle mass, and more. But until now, there was little evidence that using testosterone would provide any of these hoped-for benefits. Enter a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that reports modest positive effects for men over 65 with documented low testosterone who spread a testosterone gel on their abdomens. The study was the first of its kind to establish that using a testosterone gel could deliver an effect more powerful than a placebo.

But the improvements experienced by these older men were hardly anything to write home about. The primary outcome was assessed via a questionnaire that measured participants’ sexual activity on a scale of 0 to 12. After a short-term boost of about a half a point, the difference between the testosterone group and placebo dipped to 0.3 points after a year — barely noticeable. And it’s likely that some of the 230 men receiving testosterone therapy were no better off than if they’d been using skin cream.

One of the things the Times coverage does well is emphasize the lack of long-term data about potential heart and cancer risks associated with testosterone therapy. Concerned about the huge and expanding market for testosterone treatments, Dr. Doug Campos-Outcault — one of our regular story and news release reviewers — hopes this message is one that will resonate with Times readers.

“This is a very classic example of the ready, shoot, aim approach to medicine we take in the USA,” Campos-Outcalt said, “implementing widespread use of a therapy that has not been adequately tested for benefits and harms.”