Thanks to new legislation soon to be signed by President Bush, the scandal-rocked FDA will have a host of new powers designed to enable them to better regulate prescription meds. Here is a quick summary from OnPharma:
-Order warnings on drug labels
-Review drug ads before they air on television
-Make results of drug clinical trials available publicly
-Reduce the number of expert advisers with industry ties
-Require studies of new drugs’ performance
-Probe patient databases for early signs of side effects
Although I like the idea of fewer doctors with industry ties, the underlying premise of Big Pharma funding the FDA’s oversight seems like the biggest conflict of interest of them all. According to Scott’s Web Log,
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has become too cozy with the industry it regulates, and it looks like that problem is likely to get worse … [Big Pharma] user fees help fund the FDA along with some TINY annual appropriations from Congress …The FDA user fees were created in the early 1990′s as temporary means to fund the Agency, but has instead become the primary means of funding the government Agency who is supposed to be looking out for our safety. Our lawmakers should only be considering proposals to extend current user fees by a short time, not making it a permanent source of funding.
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With the FDA, what is said and what is actually done can manifest and likely will into a contradiction.
This is the same Association that prevents others damaged by medical products and now allows complete morons to attempt to speak off label on thier promoted products based on what is likely a fictitous piece of evidence.