FDA Called 'Defenseless' Against Unsafe Drugs

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-111804vioxx_lat,0,5350233,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Merck & Co. and the Food and Drug Administration knew before the agency approved the company's Vioxx painkiller in 1999 that the drug could have serious adverse effects on the heart, witnesses told a powerful Senate panel today.

But the FDA gave its approval without resolving the concerns, and Vioxx was aggressively marketed to point up its pain relief qualities, not its risks.

As a result, as many as 139,000 Americans who took the drug for arthritis, back pain and other ailments may have suffered serious side effects, said David Graham, a doctor with the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, which monitors drugs already approved for patient use.

He estimated that 26,000 to 55,000 people may have died as a result.

<snip>

"I would argue that the FDA, as currently configured, is incapable of protecting America against another Vioxx," added Graham, who said his superiors tried to squelch his warnings. "We are virtually defenseless."

[NC_Nurse]

1. Just like the EPA is defenseless against

polluters...

Thanks, Bush Administration! :eyes:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

2. Comparison

In case we didn't know that the drug industry has the * family in its pocket, think about this:

Thousands died because of Vioxx, according to the guy from the FDA (bless his whistleblower heart), but it wasn't pulled;

One women died from taking RU-486, and all hell breaks loose.

Swine. They're all swine.

[MSgt213]

5. Don't forget about Fen-phen and don't forget they let the flu vaccine

shortage happens through incompetence.

[lfairban]

3. 3000 people died on 9/11 . . .

. . . and now we are in a post-9/11 world. A new age where Civil Rights must be curtailed to protect the people. Merck kills over 20,000 and it hardly makes news.

Why do I think something here is wrong?

[pnutchuck]

4. The FDA also gave soldiers Lariam

the anti-malaria drug that has serious phsychotic side effects. There are over 100 cases of soldiers having homicidal and suicidal side effects after given this drug by the US Gov. And because it was a mandatory drug for soldiers going into Afghanistan and southern Iraq, they had no choice. And even more frightening is the FDA was warned about these side effects back in 2001, yet we have soldiers still returning home experiencing these phsychotic episodes.

Suit: Lariam drugmaker hid side effects
By Mark Benjamin and Dan Olmsted
Published 10/10/2002 5:05 PM

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A San Antonio couple has filed suit in New Jersey state court charging drug giant Hoffmann-La Roche with "knowingly withholding or misrepresenting information" about side effects of its anti-malaria drug called Lariam.

The suit Wednesday by Jane L. Daehler and her husband, Dr. Robert Daehler alleges that Lariam caused "severe and debilitating mental problems, including psychosis, bizarre speech, vivid hallucinations, extreme paranoia and seizures" after Jane took it for a trip to Kenya in September 2001.

[Moderator]

6. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1002474