Today's winner of the "Thanks for Nothing Award" goes to the FDA for the whole Vioxx mess. We spend years without vital cures, and the pharamceutical companies spend billions getting drugs approved by the FDA, under the pretense that it makes drugs more safe and will prevent people from getting hurt by bad drugs.
I'd like to thank the FDA, then, for their vigilant work on saving people from getting hurt by Vioxx...oh shit...uhm, for saving people from getting hurt on Paxil...no, Serzone...uhm...well then
Come now people, isn't it obvious that the purported purpose of the FDA is not being met, and that what they are doing instead is obstructing people from getting the medication they do need? Think about it for a second. When the FDA comes out and says "Today we approved a drug that will save 20,000 people a year", aren't they really saying "Because we've held onto this drug for 10 years, we've killed 200,000 people"?
I believe that there are many more effective ways to test drugs for safety that are more expedient and more transparent than the current system we go through. Imagine if there were a Consumer Reports or a Underwriter's Laboratory for drugs that tested them and approved them. You could choose who to believe, and the drug companies could speed viable cures to market faster, saving more lives. Improving the quality of more lives, helping more people in pain.
No, instead we've got a system that doesn't work that sucks money out of our pockets and still lets people get hurt.
What a crock.
100% agree with you. Didn't the FDA also relax testing in order to speed up the process in which drugs are approved? Why can't the FDA take the blame and take on the lawsuits in which will be filed I am sure.