Have you got a reference to Friedman's argument? I'd like to see the data behind it.
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Case by case, an "argument" can be made that it is the DRUG companies lie about the effectiveness of drugs. They provide PROCESSED data to the FDA and ask them to evaluate their conclusions and approve a drug for use. The drug companies hire experts to massage the data to make the strongest case to get approval.
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"If we leave out people who are left handed, the data looks better. Let's ask the FDA for approval for righties only and let the clinicians use it off-label for lefties."
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Am I remembering this case correctly? Claritin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loratadine The DrugCo proved it was an antihistamine. Then, they proved that it was non-sedating at low doses. It got approved and they were allowed to advertise it as the only non-sedating antihistamine. The problem was that very few people stuck to the low dose and used higher doses (or multiple pills) to get relief of their symptoms ... but also experienced drowsiness. THAT was all on the DrugCo and their marketing dept, not the FDA.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/11/magazine/the-claritin-effect-prescription-for-profit.html?pagewanted=all' target=_blank>http://web.archive.org/web/20150929130135/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/11/magazine/the-claritin-effect-prescription-for-profit.html?pagewanted=all
The Claritin Effect; Prescription for Profit.
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"... my new allergist handed me a week's supply of Claritin, also made by Schering-Plough. Claritin was, and still is, the most frequently dispensed drug sample in the United States, part of the nearly $8 billion worth of free drug samples that pharmaceutical companies distribute to doctors annually. I had seen the ads on TV -- who hadn't? I figured I'd give it a try. ..."
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"So I went home and tried it. The little white pill was easy to swallow and had to be taken only once a day. There was just one problem: it didn't work. It didn't relieve my runny nose and red-rimmed, gunked-up eyes. When I told my allergist, he didn't seem particularly surprised. Only about 30 to 40 percent of his patients, he said, found the drug helpful. ..."
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"Claritin has been singled out as a prime example of greed by the American pharmaceutical industry, notably last summer by Al Gore during his presidential campaign, and there has been a constant stream of negative press about Schering-Plough's efforts to get the basic patent on Claritin extended beyond its 2002 expiration. ..."
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"When it was his turn to speak, Straus engaged in a little bureaucratic soft-shoe, complimenting the Schering team's presentations as ''a tough act to follow.'' Then he tried to demolish the heart of Schering's application. Straus didn't doubt that loratadine worked as an antihistamine, he said; he just doubted that it worked at the 10-milligram dose. In fact, at one point he claimed that ''10 milligrams is not very different than placebo clinically.'' The reason the dose was so low, he argued, is that evidence of sedation began to crop up at higher, more effective doses. ..."
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Read the rest yourself, if interested. It's pretty interesting.
Posted By: lester_prairie
Re: Precisely. Who can even trust doctors anymore?
Nobel winner Milton Friedman long ago argued that delays in drug innovation kill more people than are protected by the delays.
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However that does not excuse the government lying about the effectiveness of drugs, and especially not mandating their use. There should never be a vaccine mandate. Ever.
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Let people choose their own medical care.