Just Say Yes. The FDA Ties That Bind. A Saturday Morning Rant.

Here is a good video of the FDA Bonuses.
http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/07/big-very-big-fda-bonuses-redux/

Right - FDA Commissioner Andy Von Eschenbach
Center - Richard Pazdur FDA CDER Division
Left - Michael Milken  Prostate Cancer Foundation (Convicted Felon aka The Junk Bond King)

What is going on at the FDA?

Psychiatric Group Faces Scrutiny Over Drug Industry Ties
By BENEDICT CAREY and GARDINER HARRIS Published: July 12, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/washington/12psych.html?ref=health

"“I have come to understand that money from the pharmaceutical industry can shape the practices of nonprofit organizations that purport to be independent in their viewpoints and actions,” Mr. Grassley said Thursday in a letter to the association.

In 2006, the latest year for which numbers are available, the drug industry accounted for about 30 percent of the association’s $62.5 million in financing. About half of that money went to drug advertisements in psychiatric journals and exhibits at the annual meeting, and the other half to sponsor fellowships, conferences and industry symposiums at the annual meeting."

...

"One of the doctors named by Mr. Grassley is the association’s president-elect, Dr. Alan F. Schatzberg of Stanford, whose $4.8 million stock holdings in a drug development company raised the senator’s concern. In a telephone interview, Dr. Schatzberg said he had fully complied with Stanford’s rigorous disclosure policies and federal guidelines that pertained to his research."

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Here is an excerpt from a recent letter I sent to several Congressmen and presidential candidates.

The FDA decision to delay Provenge, shows the extent of the corruption at the FDA. 2 Doctors with undisclosed conflicts of interest derailed the Provenge approval, aided and abetted by corrupt doctors within the FDA. There was no scientific basis for the delay of Provenge, which was proven safe and effective. The result is the deaths of 30,000 American men each year.

Why is the FDA protecting men from a safe treatment when no other options exist for them. Corruption, plain and simple. That is why. When doctors with undisclosed conflicts of interest, become richer due to the denial of a good treatment, you people in the government are not doing your jobs. We have written thousand of letters while you twiddle your thumbs. These are our friends and relatives dying, while you turn a deaf ear and count your money.

We are totally disgusted with the way the Government is using our taxes to aid in our demise. $24 billion annually appropriated to the National Institutes of Health to fund grants at various institutions and they could care less about the grantee’s conflicts of interest. You have encouraged doctors on the dole, due to your lack of oversight and regulation.

Sending 24 billion dollars of our tax money to the NIH to dole out for research, who instead use the money as a payola scheme, is a total and flagrant disregard of the rights of our citizens to gain legal access to good, safe treatments. Instead of looking out for our health, the corrupt FDA opted instead to deny us access to a safe and effective immunotherapy for late stage prostate cancer. Now the FDA cries that the reason they did this is that they don't have enough money. BALDERDASH! We are sick and tired of how drugs are being funded and approved for personal gain, instead of the publics welfare. Lobbyists for hedge funds, corrupt investment banks, and your own personal portfolios are determining our treatment options.

8 of the 13 school shootings were done by adolescents on legal medications which conflicted ivy league doctors helped get approved. We don't know what the other 5 students were on because they closed the books to us. This is the legalized destruction of our youth.

Shame on you, except for a small handful that have protested this corruption. What have you allowed on your watch! You pay no attention to a public so dissatisfied, who you have left with no other recourse than to write a letter. I have written many, as have tens of thousands of others. When are you going to read them and take action. You are a disgrace to a country that is supposed to be a Democracy. The people want better, safer, more humane treatments NOW!

The FDA wants more power. They have proven they are unable to regulate our medicines and treatments. They need power taken away from them and given back to the people. At least we have our own interests at heart, unlike the FDA which is a sham agency, as proven beyond a shadow of a doubt by the denial of Provenge. They pass drugs which they know are toxic drugs which kill people and let life saving treatments whither on the vine.

In November 2007, a 60-page report titled FDA Science and Mission at Risk was released by the FDA where the agency admitted it is too incapable and too incompetent to keep up with scientific advances.

Said differently, the FDA now admits that Americans are suffering and dying because of the FDA does not have the scientific ability to ascertain if new drugs are safe or effective.

Some members of Congress think that giving the FDA more money will solve these problems. But the FDA report itself admits the agency’s scientific ineptitudes are not solely due to a lack of money

(...)

Rory Kearney
http://www.CareToLive.com

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Two days ago there was an article in the paper about the bonuses the FDA awarded themselves.

(link below does not work. You will have to google the article to connect)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/10/eveningnews/main4250102.shtml?source=search_story

FDA Execs Reap Lavish Bonuses

Agency Criticized As "Broken," But FDA Executives Still Make Big Bank

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2008

"Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., says he was stunned to learn that 28 senior FDA executives took in a combined $1 million in bonuses last year, pushing their pay above that of members of Congress, federal judges - and even some cabinet secretaries.

"They've done such a miserable job these last two years, I think they should leave! Not get bonuses of $40,000 [to] $50,000!" Stupak said. "Good grief." "

....

"They are not allowed to give a bonus that is larger than 25 percent of an employee's base pay. But beyond that, they don't have to prove an employee deserves to get a bonus or earned a bonus. Congressional investigators argue the FDA is rewarding its top staff more richly than other government agencies - even though it's the agency most frequently referred to as "broken.""

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Ariste recently put up an editorial about a story that said "The pharmaceutical industry must be popping champagne corks over the recommendation by a U.S. doctor's association that kids as young as eight be given cholesterol-busting drugs."

I believe they want to start testing kids as young as 2 years old.

http://www.nowpublic.com/health/grow-fatties#comment-124532