Hear him tell it

I know, my rants on pharmaceuticals are probably getting to the level of Andrew Sullivan on torture or Professor Reynolds on non-stick cookware. It's my passion, and it is under more extreme pressure from a Democratic 110th Congress.

Ignore me. Listen to this guy. Charles Hooper is a consultant to drug companies, with the unfortunately necessary job of telling them to pull the plug on development.

Don't be misled into believing that Arcoxia, which has been tested in over 34,000 patients, is a wildly dangerous drug. According to Merck, "there is more long-term safety data from controlled clinical trials, in terms of patient-years on treatment, for Arcoxia than for any other NSAID, including traditional NSAIDs and Cox-2 selective inhibitors." Do the English or Germans seem careless or inept? Those countries already allow patients to use Arcoxia, as do 61 other countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe. It's as if the FDA is our parent and, after a long drive to the beach, is telling us not to swim in the water because he/she isn't convinced the water is warm enough. We nod agreement and then look out to see 63 other kids happily swimming. Hmmm. Maybe we're old enough to decide for ourselves.

At the end of the day, it will be my company that kills a new drug. So, yes, I'm a drug killer. But the FDA is the true drug killer. I'm merely acting out the FDA's script.

If you'll read the whole thing, I'll shut up about the topic for at least 30 days -- deal?

Pharmaceuticals Posted by jk at May 9, 2007 12:44 PM