Obama on healthcare bill

[lovbyts]

glad to see this was pointed out.

I think the point is when the profit becomes more important than the medicine and problems, side effects, deaths and sometimes the lack of results are overlooked due to profit and money exchange under the table.

There are many good meds out there available in other countries with less side effects, lower cost, safer but not allowed in the US because of profit from other companies paying someone off (FDA) not to approve them.

[thegodfather]

I think the point is when the profit becomes more important than the medicine and problems, side effects, deaths and sometimes the lack of results are overlooked due to profit and money exchange under the table.

There are many good meds out there available in other countries with less side effects, lower cost, safer but not allowed in the US because of profit from other companies paying someone off (FDA) not to approve them.

Can you link me to an article or a study that shows who gets paid off and in what amounts? Or is this simply conjecture?

Yes, you can find medicines in other countries which are not available here, but not for the reasons you mentioned. For instance, you are able to goto Europe and have available to you more chemotherapy options which may be just beginning clinical trials here in the United States. The reason is that the US has in place checks and hoops to jump through before a medication is approved in humans by the FDA. We have loopholes where experimental drugs can be used in "compassionate use" scenarios for critically ill patients who the benefits outweigh the risks of using an unproven medication on.

Generally though, our medications once approved are much safer. And incidences like Vioxx and FenFen while tragic, PALE in comparison to the number of new drugs which gain FDA approval each year and do NOT have massive recalls. It is a trade off, the amount of time, money, and extra research that goes into making sure a medication's efficacy and relatively safe before it comes to market. Such checks and balances are not in place in Europe, and while they are able to bring drugs to market sooner, does not mean they are safer. Also keep in mind in Europe, if you are hurt because of a medication, it is significantly harder to get reparations and damages from those companies. If a doctor performs malpractice on you in a country with a National Healthcare System, you are essentially going to have to sue the government, do you know how well that usually works out?

[Kratos]

I
There are many good meds out there available in other countries with less side effects, lower cost, safer but not allowed in the US because of profit from other companies paying someone off (FDA) not to approve them.

for example?