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Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Drug Studies Required by FDA Fast Track Process Never Completed

Help, help, there is so much going on I a can't keep up with it anymore....
The Los Angeles Times just revealed a report by the staff of US Rep. Edward J Markey (D-Mass) about the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fast-track drug approval process. This process, created in part as a response to demonstrations by AIDS activists in the late 1980's (see previous post here), allows rapid marketing of drugs after a limited number of studies, contingent on manufacturers' willingness to perform future studies.
Apparently, many of these studies are never finished.
Markey's report said that of 91 studies promised since 1992, 42, almost half, were not completed, and 21 were never started.
Markey is calling for new legislation to impose penalties on pharmaceutical companies that do not complete promised studies.

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