4 ms·

On the flip side, many drugs approved by governments in the rest of the Western world languish in the FDA's queue for years. I contracted a common illness while

On the flip side, many drugs approved by governments in the rest of the Western world languish in the FDA's queue for years. I contracted a common illness while living in Germany as an exchange student, and was prescribed medication by a doctor there which I had to fight over with my insurance (then my parents' family plan) for reimbursement because the drug had not yet been approved by the FDA. We got the reimbursement eventually, and the price was eminently reasonable anyway: something like 70-ish Euro. But drug prices in the United States are another can of worms entirely... I recall the incident well because the computer the doctor used to enter information in the late 2000s was a Commodore 64 with that distinctive lighter band around the display edge.

da02 9y ago
What was the illness? Did you ask the doctor why he was using a Commodore 64?
- sfRattan 9y ago
  I deliberately didn't specify the illness for privacy reasons, though it was an airborne contagious disease. I did not ask him why he was using such an old machine, but it seemed to work and he was rather old also. The detail only sticks out because it was so odd.
  - da02 9y ago
    It's great everything worked out in the end.
rz2k 9y ago
The US market is so lucrative that drug companies will go through FDA certification, but it is definitely more costly. It is arguable that disasters such as prescribing Thalidomide to pregnant women for morning sickness, and even selling it over the counter, is less likely with a more rigorous agency. > Thalidomide was first marketed in 1957 in West Germany under the trade-name Contergan. [...] Primarily prescribed as a sedative or hypnotic, [...] Afterwards, it was used against nausea and to alleviate morning sickness in pregnant women. Thalidomide became an over-the-counter drug in West Germany on October 1, 1957. Shortly after the drug was sold in West Germany, between 5,000 and 7,000 infants were born with phocomelia (malformation of the limbs). Only 40% of these children survived. Throughout the world, about 10,000 cases were reported of infants with phocomelia due to thalidomide; only 50% of the 10,000 survived. Those subjected to thalidomide while in the womb experienced limb deficiencies in a way that the long limbs either were not developed or presented themselves as stumps. Other effects included deformed eyes and hearts... [1] In practice, there are a lot of problems that prevent it from only being a more rigorous quality control, but it also isn't entirely bad. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide

da02 9y ago

What was the illness? Did you ask the doctor why he was using a Commodore 64?

sfRattan 9y ago
I deliberately didn't specify the illness for privacy reasons, though it was an airborne contagious disease. I did not ask him why he was using such an old machine, but it seemed to work and he was rather old also. The detail only sticks out because it was so odd.
- da02 9y ago
  It's great everything worked out in the end.

rz2k 9y ago

The US market is so lucrative that drug companies will go through FDA certification, but it is definitely more costly. It is arguable that disasters such as prescribing Thalidomide to pregnant women for morning sickness, and even selling it over the counter, is less likely with a more rigorous agency. > Thalidomide was first marketed in 1957 in West Germany under the trade-name Contergan. [...] Primarily prescribed as a sedative or hypnotic, [...] Afterwards, it was used against nausea and to alleviate morning sickness in pregnant women. Thalidomide became an over-the-counter drug in West Germany on October 1, 1957. Shortly after the drug was sold in West Germany, between 5,000 and 7,000 infants were born with phocomelia (malformation of the limbs). Only 40% of these children survived. Throughout the world, about 10,000 cases were reported of infants with phocomelia due to thalidomide; only 50% of the 10,000 survived. Those subjected to thalidomide while in the womb experienced limb deficiencies in a way that the long limbs either were not developed or presented themselves as stumps. Other effects included deformed eyes and hearts... [1] In practice, there are a lot of problems that prevent it from only being a more rigorous quality control, but it also isn't entirely bad. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide