Breaking News: Drug Companies screw public again - FDA helps

Here's a surprise. It turns out that many of the fast track approvals granted to new drugs by the FDA are contingent on follow up studies that the manufacturers commit to in order to get the drugs on the market faster. I think that's a fine plan - I'm a firm believer in getting new medications on the market.

But, here's the real shocker: The drug companies aren't actually doing the follow up studies. About two of every three of the promised studies haven't been completed. But the crack staff at the FDA is right on top of things:

The 797 pending studies represent a slight dip from the 812 still pending as of a year earlier, according to FDA documents. FDA spokeswoman Kathleen Quinn said the agency feels that “these numbers show drug companies are taking this thing seriously.”

Yes, they got started on a whopping 2% of the backlogged studies in the last year. That sounds deadly serious to me, particularly if you are using some of these medications.

Call me cynical, but why do I think that if you follow this up to the decision making level at the FDA you're going to find some Bush family sycophant who roomed with W's buddy in the frat house at Yale?