Friday, April 4, 2008

And now credibility crisis in the FDA

Not that it has a stellar track record, it continues to fumble. Now, it's my turn to do that 'I told you so' dance. I've even written about this before. I always knew this, a lot of my relatives are in medicine. We've heard way too many stories in the past of bad or ineffective drugs being in the market. Now we have more. I've always been skeptical of the plethora of drugs & their effectiveness. There seems to be a pill for everything.

The drug companies churn out these high promising drugs in search of newer markets & in doing so start playing with people's health. What drives them to do this? Simple, pressures of turning impressive results every financial year, so Wall Street can continue financing them. This happens when a drug company is headed by a non-medico CEO, as is the case in many of them. And also the search for the next blockbuster drug that will bring in profits.

This also raises serious questions of ethics. The companies should be concerned with finding a genuine cure for our ailments, not waste R&D budgets on quick fix drugs. This will only encourage bad lifestyle leading people to think there's a drug that will fix them. But that does not work. This situation is a result of concern for profits than for cure. If you read or watch any drug commercial carefully, the side effects listed are serious enough to do major damage. Many drugs are not suitable for a lot of people. A majority of the drugs only treat symptoms leaving the cause so more money can be made later. Moreover, most of the drugs are effective only for a while, prolonged usage can cause severe health concerns, worse than the original ailment. The FDA has failed in being an effective watchdog.

There are no magic pills to solve our health problems. Following a healthy lifestyle is the only cure that goes a long way in leading a disease free life. Popping a pill for everything isn't going to help.

Related post: Side effects may include...

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