"GAO team wins approval for fake medical product; Fictitious review board also OK'd in screening probe" by Associated Press | March 27, 2009
WASHINGTON - Government investigators looking into lax screening of medical research said yesterday they easily won approval from a private independent review board of a fake product to be used in medical testing on human subjects.
The Government Accountability Office also said it was able to register with the Health and Human Services Department a fictitious institutional review board, a panel of doctors and scientists that must approve any medical drug or device to be used in federally funded testing on humans. The president of this fake board was a dog named Trooper.
I'll bet he could do a better job than some of the carcasses in charge.
The GAO said its investigation showed the system "is vulnerable to unethical manipulation, particularly by companies or individuals who intend to abuse the system or to commit fraud."
Bernie Madoff!
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Officials from HHS and the Food and Drug Administration assured lawmakers there were substantial protections in place to ensure that testing is done in a responsible and ethical manner.... --more--"
FDA Protects Big Pharma While Telling Americans "F*** You!"
FDA Doesn't Care About Cancer
FDA Approval to Immunize Drug Companies From Lawsuits
Cue the lights annnnnddd..... action!
WASHINGTON - Biotech drugs that now cost thousands of dollars per month would have to compete with lower-cost generic versions after just five years on the market, under a new congressional proposal.
The bipartisan bill introduced yesterday is the latest salvo in a years-long effort to lower the price of biotech drugs, high-tech injectable medications that cost the nation more than $40 billion per year.
Related: Addicted to Biotech
The proposal from Senators Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, suggests generic drug makers are gaining traction for their long-sought goal: a speedy, low-cost pathway to market for generic biotech drugs.
See: Slimy Schumer
Shilling for the same damn interests, 'eh, Chuck?
Biotech drugs, such as the blockbuster cancer drug Avastin, currently don't face generic competition because the Food and Drug Administration doesn't have power to approve copies of such medications. Efforts to change that have been held up for nearly a decade by squabbling between the biotech and generic drug industries and their allies on Capitol Hill.
Related: Biotech Thiefs and Liars
Biotech companies have demanded at least 14 years on the market before their products face generic competition.
That DOES NOT sound like FREE MARKET CAPITALISM to me (as if anybody wanted their poisons)! That sounds like a PROTECTIONISM to me!!!!
And THEY are getting TAX BREAKS and TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES to boot?
But that number appears increasingly unlikely as President Obama and Democrats hail generic biotech as a way to lower healthcare costs.
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Update (as if the point needed punctuation):
ORLANDO, Fla. - .... Many doctors have been uncomfortable with expanding statin use to people with normal cholesterol because so many would have to be treated to prevent a single additional case.
"I don't know that it changes the big picture very much" to say that a statin can prevent blood clots, said Dr. Mark Hlatky, a Stanford University cardiologist who had no role in the study. "Where do you draw the line? Are we giving it to 10-year-old kids that are fat?"
Also see: Body Mass Bulls***
More Pill-Popping Promoted For Kids
AstraZeneca paid for the study, and Ridker and other authors have consulted for the company and other statin makers.... Crestor also has the highest rate of a rare but serious muscle problem, and the consumer group Public Citizen has campaigned against it, saying there are safer alternatives. Crestor costs $3.45 a day versus less than a dollar for generic drugs. Its sales have been rising....
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