The WSJ has an article about how Mayo and Medco are partnering to screen patients BEFORE they take drugs to avoid side effects but meanwhile it sounds like the FDA is making it hard for such diagostics -- critical to the Critical Path and better health -- to get approved (and funding).
This in turn only gives ammunition and power to the critics of the industry and the agency that molecular medicine is not ready for prime time, that user fees are too user friendly, and that most of the money should go to policing products after they are on the market and not before they are developed or dispensed. All of which means fewer dollars spent on getting people new medicines for lifesaving medicines...
The FDA has a responsibility to get its act together on molecular diagnostics but Congress should understand that to drain the agency from money to advance such discussions and developments and invest in IOM-type idiocy will come at the expense of patient health and safety.
This in turn only gives ammunition and power to the critics of the industry and the agency that molecular medicine is not ready for prime time, that user fees are too user friendly, and that most of the money should go to policing products after they are on the market and not before they are developed or dispensed. All of which means fewer dollars spent on getting people new medicines for lifesaving medicines...
The FDA has a responsibility to get its act together on molecular diagnostics but Congress should understand that to drain the agency from money to advance such discussions and developments and invest in IOM-type idiocy will come at the expense of patient health and safety.
