Does anyone inside the FDA really care?
Bear with me, because I’m about to vent.
We know the FDA is charged with protecting consumers. The question is: Do they know it? No one—and I mean no one—inside the FDA seems concerned (even though it’s been obvious for quite some time) that the agency is fully sidetracked from its original mission.
And what angers me are when problems do come to light about drugs on the market, the FDA displays an astonishing lack of quick and decisive reaction. Why dilly-dally around? There should be absolutely no hesitation to immediately pull a drug from the market if it is endangering the overall health and lives of patients.
The latest example would be the warning labels on drugs for depression to alert patients that there may be an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior! All it took for action was the grieving relatives of patients who killed themselves to plead with an FDA panel to add the strong warning. I can’t imagine why it had to come to that.
But time and time again, the FDA disappoints, allowing dangerous drugs to linger out there that continue to cause harm to patients. At best, they’ll recommend a tepid warning be stamped on the side of the bottle. Think back to Ketek and Vioxx for a classic example.
Excuse me if I’m not suitably impressed with their half-hearted measures.
What I find even more unconscionable with the FDA is the hush-hush atmosphere that prevents the truth from getting out in a timely manner. For those who work within the FDA, looking at scientific data and interpreting it with a difference of opinion (i.e. not in line with pro-Big Pharma thinking) is discouraged, and these researchers fear retaliation if they speak out about problems.
People afraid to step forward for fear of reprisals?! Where do we live, folks—in some repressive third world regime?
This is actually a charge that has been leveled at the FDA by lawmakers. And now with Congressional hearings taking place to look closer at the FDA’s (lack of) oversight, the ugly truth is coming out, and their actions are now being scrutinized. It’s high time. While the FDA is ruling their little kingdom with an iron fist, the patients who are on these risky drugs are the ones who suffer.
Here’s my humble country doctor opinion: This behavior is simply unacceptable and unforgivable. How dare the FDA so cavalierly treat their mandate to protect us from dangerous products! This repressive atmosphere can’t be allowed to go on. It’s tantamount to a continuous criminal act—premeditated and executed, over and over, on unwitting patients who have placed their trust and faith in a medical system that has sold out to the drug companies.
