Taking Care of This Problem . . .
. . . would go a long way towards removing any mysterious or apparent shred of legitimacy from the Big Pharm conspiracy theories.
Too many Normal Average Folks believe some way-out-whackiness simply because this system IS so obviously messed up and wasteful. The industry has enough challenges with strictly medical issues of efficacy. All the marketing crap just belittles those Real research and development problems.
Too many Normal Average Folks believe some way-out-whackiness simply because this system IS so obviously messed up and wasteful. The industry has enough challenges with strictly medical issues of efficacy. All the marketing crap just belittles those Real research and development problems.
FDA Told U.S. Drug System Is BrokenHere's the part I think will most directly address the Integrity of Big Pharm.
Expert Panel Calls For Major Changes
By Shankar VedantamWashington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 23, 2006; Page A01
The federal system for approving and regulating drugs is in serious disrepair, and a host of dramatic changes are needed to fix the problem, a blue-ribbon panel of government advisers concluded yesterday in a long-awaited report.
The analysis by the Institute of Medicine shined an unsparing spotlight on the erosion of public confidence in the Food and Drug Administration, an agency that holds sway over a quarter of the U.S. economy. The report, requested by the FDA itself, found that Congress, agency officials and the pharmaceutical industry share responsibility for the problems -- and bear the burden for implementing solutions.
[Link] The panel called for a moratorium on consumer advertising of newly approved classes of drugs until they have been on the market long enough for unrecognized side effects and risks to emerge. Packaging for new types of medications should also carry a special symbol, such as the black triangle required in Britain, to alert patients that the drug's safety profile would not be fully known until it had been more widely studied, the report said.
That's why I only take St. Joseph's aspirin.
ReplyDeleteWell. There ya go.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the "witness", sistah. {-;
I make my own meds.
ReplyDeleteit's about damn time there was some sort of stoppage of the "buy our drugs so we won't have to spend money testing them" type ads.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like all the doctors I see are always trying to push samples of stuff and prescriptions on me without really checking to see if it's something I really need. Do they get some kind of bonu$ from the pharms for giving out x-number of prescriptions? And what about studies and research conducted by groups that are somewhat connected to the drug company, but on the surface appear to be a neutral agency? Or cooking real research results to appear to favor or not disfavor the drug of choice? [shudder] You've hit one of my pet peeves.
ReplyDeletei think that the doctors do get perks from the drug companies. this approach would be common sense now wouldn't it? wait until after the drugs have been tested- that wouldn't make them any money.
ReplyDeleteHuge amounts of money is spent on advertising and marketting. The pharmaceutical industry is driven by the need to make money as much as any other industry.
ReplyDeleteDoes the desire to make money outstrip the desire to provide useable, safe product? Yes, I think so, and what it is more, I think it is the same with all industry.
The gloves are off. It is the "free market economy" which disctates the success or necessity for a product, not the value that product may have to human life, or generations of human life.
I wish them luck in trying to rein in Big Harma. Especially anything reuiring approval of Congre$$.
ReplyDeleteBut I LOVE me some Big Pharma conspiracy theories! I just read The Hundred Year Lie - scary stuff. Check out their website http://www.hundredyearlie.com/
ReplyDelete