Tony M Mar 30, 2020:

@ BDF Thanks! I think it takes our native-speaker feel to pick up on the nuance of meaning here.

B D Finch Mar 30, 2020:

@Tony That is a good example of why benefits can be overwhelming, even if the effect on the condition treated with the drug is less than spectacular.

Tony M Mar 30, 2020:

@ Asker The crux of the matter, as BDF has so well explained, is what it is that these benefits overwhelm — and it is clearly "all opposition"; but this doesn't necessarily imply that this drug produces dramatically better results in the patients. Take an example:
Drug A is equally effective as drugs B, C, and D at treating condition X — but unlike drugs B, C, and D, it avoids some particularly nasty side-effects.
So one can fairly say that its benefits are 'overwhelming' on those grounds, even if it is not necessarily any (or significantly) more effective in its actual treatment.

Tony M Mar 30, 2020:

@ BDF Exactly! The benefits far outweigh any negative issues.

B D Finch Mar 30, 2020:

overwhelming The question you should be asking is what or who would be overwhelmed by the benefit. "Overwhelming" is often used simply to mean "very great", but that loses the specific meaning of the word. In this case, I'd argue that the benefit was so great that it overwhelmed any counter-argument.

marewa Mar 30, 2020:

bénéfice conséquent, considérable, majeur...