Blizza Blizza

Turner’s got an interesting quote — which, unfortunately, is not taken out of context — about the avian flu vaccine situation.

What the WSJ op-ed piece (the source of the quote) didn’t tell you was that “one pharmaceutical company” may have not only accepted that $10/dose discount, but they still made a 200% net profit on it.

I’ve seen how the industry works from my experience working at one of the major pharma companies and in close connection to the industry during my graduate work, and they’re making money hand over fist when they can run a drug through approval. What’s killing them — and what the article touches on all too briefly and with ENTIRELY the wrong attitude — is that, and I quote:

One problem is the Food and Drug Administration, which puts safety above developing rapid cures.

Uh.

Yeah.

That’s what their job is, dummy. Obviously if a drug isn’t safe, it’s not a “rapid cure.” It’s a flawed semi-solution at best and might be more of a problem than the disease it’s intended to cure. Anyone remember the widespread prescription of thalidomide for morning sickness? More recent examples include the newly discovered “Viagra makes you go blind” effect and the enormous mess over COX-2 inhibitors (Celebrex, Vioxx, etc.).

The FDA needs a serious overhaul, but it needs a serious overhaul in the direction away from being a corporate stooge under the auspices of the Federal government, which is what it’s become in the last 30 years.