As Scott Gottlieb's piece in the WSJ demonstrates, FDA reform is now all about legal pork, not public health. But what Scott didn't note is how our good friends Nissen and Furberg have played and will play a pivotal role in greasing this greed machine.
It all comes together.
The Dems -- under orders from Nancy Pelosi -- have inserted a legal loophole into the FDA reform bill that would give trial lawyers the right to sue drug companies if they don't provide additional information about the risks of drugs independent of what the FDA tells them to provide to the public. This is way to undermine the sole authority -- upheld by courts -- to determine if a drug is safe and effect. It is part of this general trend toward drug safety vigilantism which is being aided and abetted by free lancers inside and outside the FDA who leak and release hastily produced studies to Congress and to the media -- before and after duly constituted FDA review periods.
This shameful assault on the public health is fueled and funded by the trial bar who have pressured and paid for Democrats to slip this last minute provision into a bill that is required to keep the FDA operating.
Now where in the world will the trial bar get the evidence that a drug is unsafe independent of FDA decisions.
Enter Nissen, Furberg, Graham, Avorn, et. al who with the help of the nutroots on the internet (some whom are funded by the trial bar) stoke fear and provide story ideas for the media and copy for an eternally bent over medical journal establishment that is willing to receive what ever they deliver about how dangerous drugs are. No surprise that the "studies" of Furberg -- the 'unpaid' advisor to the trial bar figure prominently in the argument for what the Dems are calling a rule of construction that would allow lawyers to sue companies for not including warnings (based on studies generated by people like Nissen and Furberg) even when the FDA prohibits a company from including warnings without it's consent. The FDA does not engage -- with the exception of a handful of cranks -- in fearmongering. Guys like Nissen do it because it increases their power. And Trial Lawyer Inc. has allied with them because their fearmongering fertilizes the ground from which they reap profits.
The result? Fewer new drugs, fewer new uses, less innovation and less medical benefit.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119025325354433415.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
It all comes together.
The Dems -- under orders from Nancy Pelosi -- have inserted a legal loophole into the FDA reform bill that would give trial lawyers the right to sue drug companies if they don't provide additional information about the risks of drugs independent of what the FDA tells them to provide to the public. This is way to undermine the sole authority -- upheld by courts -- to determine if a drug is safe and effect. It is part of this general trend toward drug safety vigilantism which is being aided and abetted by free lancers inside and outside the FDA who leak and release hastily produced studies to Congress and to the media -- before and after duly constituted FDA review periods.
This shameful assault on the public health is fueled and funded by the trial bar who have pressured and paid for Democrats to slip this last minute provision into a bill that is required to keep the FDA operating.
Now where in the world will the trial bar get the evidence that a drug is unsafe independent of FDA decisions.
Enter Nissen, Furberg, Graham, Avorn, et. al who with the help of the nutroots on the internet (some whom are funded by the trial bar) stoke fear and provide story ideas for the media and copy for an eternally bent over medical journal establishment that is willing to receive what ever they deliver about how dangerous drugs are. No surprise that the "studies" of Furberg -- the 'unpaid' advisor to the trial bar figure prominently in the argument for what the Dems are calling a rule of construction that would allow lawyers to sue companies for not including warnings (based on studies generated by people like Nissen and Furberg) even when the FDA prohibits a company from including warnings without it's consent. The FDA does not engage -- with the exception of a handful of cranks -- in fearmongering. Guys like Nissen do it because it increases their power. And Trial Lawyer Inc. has allied with them because their fearmongering fertilizes the ground from which they reap profits.
The result? Fewer new drugs, fewer new uses, less innovation and less medical benefit.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119025325354433415.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
