Apparently, the Chinese company that makes the prenatal infanticide drug RU-486 has also poisoned its leukemia drugs, paralyzing thousands of patients. Sad to say, the same FDA that didn't think four transfusions in RU-486 clinical trials were worth noting also doesn't think that the company's quality record is worth reviewing.
This is appalling; the ugly truth is that quality problems generally don't start on the shop floor, but in the corner offices, as men bucking for a promotion cut corners to get that last farthing out of the bill of materials. The FDA would do well, I think, to make sure they hire people out of industry who have learned this.
Sunday Firesides: You Don’t Have the Time, Not to Take the Time
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We often talk about time in economic terms. We speak about what we choose
to pay attention to and how we spend our time. When we look at our budget
of ti...
7 hours ago
3 comments:
...does your libertarian leaning not extend to FDA rescinding, Bert?
Interesting take; my first response is to concede that cases like this, and the non-disclosure of adverse drug testing results, certainly put the lie to the idea that the FDA really does a lot better than the private sector would do.
I really don't know what I'd recommend. On one side, the FDA clearly doesn't appear to be doing its job very well--13 deaths, and no review of RU-486? On the other, I've known too many upper managers who'd be out on EBay trying to sell their own mothers if they thought it would get them a VP's office.
Maybe an insurance consortium similar to UL would do a better job? They certainly make products better than, say, Amtrak or NASA.
...my eventual decision with this (after thinking/talking about it a few times) is that there could easily be independent 'trade certifying' organizations that would provide extra levels of consumer trust/certainty, and they'd have a huge incentive to get it right or fail.
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