Recent Proof FDA Is Controlled By Big Pharma
If you harbored romantic notions that an Obama FDA would be less controlled by the pharmaceutical industry than a Bush FDA, think again. The case of Avandia proves once again that FDA will sacrifice the health of the American people to defend the economic interests of its favored regulatees, the big drug companies.
In an April 2, 1999 internal memo to his superiors FDA medical reviewer Dr. Robert I. Misbin objected to FDA approval of the GlaxoSmithKline Type 2 diabetes drug Avandia. He expressed concerns “about deleterious long term effects on the heart” from the drug. His criticisms were rejected by the agency’s political appointees. On May 25, 1999, FDA approved the drug for marketing without referencing the heart risks.
For identifying the heart risks, Dr. Misbin was not complimented at FDA. Far from it, he was ostracized and subjected to severe criticism and review by his superiors. He was told, flatly, by one of them that he just did not get it, that FDA was there to serve the industry. In a later interview, Misbin (now deceased) said: “One of my superiors said something to me that I have never forgotten, that we have to maintain good relations with the drug companies because they are our customers.”
Harold
ACGR's "News with Attitude" 