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August 07, 2002

Drug company rebuked

I hate typing this. FDA Rebukes Maker Of Diet Drug Meridia

The Food and Drug Administration has told the maker of the diet drug Meridia that it violated federal regulations by failing to properly report the deaths of patients taking the drug.

In a letter to Abbott Laboratories made public yesterday, the FDA said that information about seven deaths associated with Meridia was not reported properly to the agency, that one death was not reported at all, and that reports on three other deaths were incompletely reported.

Why are they not thinking? What are they trying to hide? This makes me very unhappy.

 Posted by on August 07, 2002 06:08 AM | TrackBack




Comments:

Hi: I agree with you. I'd also like to mention that technology is available that prevents this from happening. So, maybe the question should be, "Why are they not acting?" With so many lives at stake, you'd think something would be done.

Companies that spend so much to work around the regulations really do their stakeholders a disservice by not utilizing technology to get the products to market as quickly as possible. Their profit margins increase, market exclusivity is lengthened by ten years or more, and patients would enjoy lower prices for their medications. A win-win situation. Wonder why they don't act?

I'd like to point you to one solution that exists, today:
http://www.theworldccr.org/

Respectfully,
Thomas A. Poe, M.D.

 Posted by: Tom Poe on August 7, 2002 09:43 PM

"Spokeswoman Jennifer Smoter said that all the problems identified by the FDA occurred before Abbott bought the company that initially developed the drug, Knoll Pharmaceuticals." Which may say Abbott would not have acted this way. Let us, and the FDA, bear this in mind.

http://www.theworldccr.org/ ? Strident language, but an interesting idea. Have to think about it for a bit.

Posted by: on August 9, 2002 02:02 AM


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