GlaxoSmithKline’s Avandia is prescribed for 1 million Americans for type 2 diabetes and now known to increase the risk of heart attack by 43% and cardiovascular death by 64%. “Avandia is more expensive and dangerous than older drugs and not at all more effective”, said Dr. Graham (to joint panel of experts convened to consider the drug). But instead of pulling the drug, the FDA just adds warnings to the label and subtracts uses for it.
Thanks to fast tracking and 6-month approvals – no one knows if a drug is dangerous, until a critical mass of human guinea pigs takes it – tests it. Only 3,000 clinical trials are usually conducted pre-market and what if the drug harms one in every 3,001? Did you really think lethal tests on beagles and other mammals keep you safe? Talk about dying in vain!
Pulling a drug after approval just casts light on the approval process itself which is teeming with conflicts of interest. 92% of FDA advisory meetings (in last decade) included a member with financial ties to drug companies, according to USA Today – the FDA calls them ‘sponsors’ and federal law (against using experts with financial conflicts of interest)…was waived 800 times. Too bad that can’t be on the warning label!
(http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2275.shtml)
STILL TRUSTING PHARMA DRUGS AND THE FDA WITH YOUR HEALTH?
