April 11, 2008.
Why Don't We Let the Drug Companies Decide
Whether That Bad Outcome Was From Their Drug?

Well the obvious answer is because it isn't in their financial interest to do so. And
in spite of the words of Billy Tauzin, the ex-congressman from the state of Louisiana
who slipped (sliding... sliming?) over from his job as congressman (after passing key legislation for
the pharmaceutical industry) to president of the Pharmaceutical and Research Manufacturers
Association (PhARMA), or chief bully megaphone for the drug industry, who said
"we don't make handbags or ice cream, we make drugs that save lives," drugs
can save lives but they also can take lives, and when they do the drug manufacturers
are not always interested in admitting that. And the politicians who take their donations
for their political campaigns aren't either. Ditto for doctors, even when they didn't
get much from the drug companies, which I think is weird. I attribute it to some kind
of delayed mommy effect or getting bullied in the schoolyard or something. Anyway
I forgot what I was talking about, which happens to me a lot... oh yeah. Drug companies
will stonewall and deny that a side effect is caused by a drug for as long as they
can. And why shouldn't they? I mean if look at the examples of Vioxx or Accutane,
the drug companies were making a billion dollars a year while the debate about
side effects continues. Fiddling while Rome burned. Even at the end of the day Merck
will have made much more money from Vioxx than they will lose from litigation, even
for a drug that costs more than five times as much as Motrin, requires a doctor
prescription, doubles the risk of heart attack and is no better for pain relief.
Huh?

Well this post has to come to a conclusion or point or something which is...
ummm... duh... I don't know... well I guess if you expect a drug company or government official
or someone in authority to announce to you a new side effect so you can keep your loved
ones safe then you may be dissapointed. As always let the buyer of prescription
drugs beware.



My book 'Before You Take That Pill: Why the Drug Industry May be Bad for Your Health:
Risks and Side Effects You Won't Find on the Label of Commonly Prescribed Drugs, Vitamins, and Supplements'
is now available at amazon and at local Borders and Barnes and Noble book stores.

Doug Bremner, MD, is a physician and researcher in Atlanta GA
and author of Before You Take That Pill:
Why the Drug Industry May be
Bad for Your Health: Risks and Side Effects
You Won't Find on the Label of Commonly Prescribed
Drugs, Vitamins and Supplements




You are visitor number