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I agree with you, I simply call it crony-corporatist capitalism. I agree that there may not be any such thing as the idealized form. However: - Our system has

I agree with you, I simply call it crony-corporatist capitalism. I agree that there may not be any such thing as the idealized form. However: - Our system has many biases toward over-centralization, and the idea that we should have one Federal entity completely in charge of drug approvals is pretty absurd. Why not encourage many other groups to make recommendations. Why can't the FDA have its own list, as well as a list made by the AMA, major HMOs etc. Why not also consider the list used in the UK, etc. When we a) combine effectiveness research with b) a public health mandate and c) risk-averse career burocrats, we end up with our current system. If our government weren't in the business of coordinating regulatory capture games, it would simply relinquish control of absolute authority, and allow respected third party institutions to have a voice. If your doctor prescribes drug x simply because it's FDA approved, that is very much the wrong decision. The side-effect for Vioxx that led to it being pulled was well known to doctors (and applies to all NSAIDs), and so any doctor who let a patent suffer with Vioxx was at somewhat clueless if not negligent. So yes, the government is yet another corrupt firm with a monopoly on certain things that it abuses for profit, harming all of us in the process. > This is the real capitalism Our economy contains some areas that are heavily corrupt and not very competitive, and others that are under the radar and are highly competitive.

rdtsc 10y ago
> Why can't the FDA have its own list, as well as a list made by the AMA, major HMOs etc. Why not also consider the list used in the UK, etc. That is a pretty good idea. It makes sense. One instance where this happens is in Common Criteria Certification (the EAL levels). There is a mutual agreement between countries. And for example RedHat is going to Germany to get the EAL-4 certification for RHEL. Doing it in the US was too time consuming and expensive. https://www.redhat.com/en/about/blog/red-hat-enterprise-linux-7-evaluation-common-criteria-certification https://www.redhat.com/en/about/blog/red-hat-enterprise-linu...
- grandalf 10y ago
  Exactly. And for 90% or more of situations, all lists would likely agree. But if my doctor wants me to take a drug that is whitelisted by only one of the lists and perhaps blacklisted by one, and gray-listed by others, I'd certainly want to dig a bit deeper and fully understand the tradeoffs I was getting into. Some might say that is too much "work" for me as a patient. I'd certainly welcome the chance to have the chance to think about taking something that wasn't an obvious whitelist choice for all. I think the desire on the part of many humans to simply put all their trust in one authority figure our institution comes from the same primitive drive that made our ancestors kneel before emperors and makes some wish to kneel before supernatural emperors.

rdtsc 10y ago

> Why can't the FDA have its own list, as well as a list made by the AMA, major HMOs etc. Why not also consider the list used in the UK, etc. That is a pretty good idea. It makes sense. One instance where this happens is in Common Criteria Certification (the EAL levels). There is a mutual agreement between countries. And for example RedHat is going to Germany to get the EAL-4 certification for RHEL. Doing it in the US was too time consuming and expensive. https://www.redhat.com/en/about/blog/red-hat-enterprise-linux-7-evaluation-common-criteria-certification https://www.redhat.com/en/about/blog/red-hat-enterprise-linu...

grandalf 10y ago
Exactly. And for 90% or more of situations, all lists would likely agree. But if my doctor wants me to take a drug that is whitelisted by only one of the lists and perhaps blacklisted by one, and gray-listed by others, I'd certainly want to dig a bit deeper and fully understand the tradeoffs I was getting into. Some might say that is too much "work" for me as a patient. I'd certainly welcome the chance to have the chance to think about taking something that wasn't an obvious whitelist choice for all. I think the desire on the part of many humans to simply put all their trust in one authority figure our institution comes from the same primitive drive that made our ancestors kneel before emperors and makes some wish to kneel before supernatural emperors.