Many years ago my friend doctor patented a brilliant but simple device for holding on broken joints together. Because he seen so many open joints, he took advan

Many years ago my friend doctor patented a brilliant but simple device for holding on broken joints together. Because he seen so many open joints, he took advantage of this knowledge and it was light years comparing to other devices that were made from bulky material, expensive and painful to wear. All other doctors-friends tap him on the back and looked in his eyes like he's already a billionaire. "You only have to file with FDA and you good to go!", they say. Seven years later and $450,000 in FDA fees and lawyers, he did not get anywhere! But he was lucky enough to stop there, as he met some lawyer that used to work for FDA before. That layer told him even back in 70s everyone within agency knew the goal of FDA is NOT to protect citizens and their health; but rather to protect big pharma, or pretty much every corporation with big enough pockets, from disrupting market and as a result messing around with their bottom line. This lawyer told my friend that this is as hard-core "capitalism Americana" as it can ever get! Maybe we don't have Standard & Oil and Rockefeller in full charge taking advantage of capitalism's cons, but indeed it shakes you to the core when you educate yourself how broken the system IS. Edit: to expand on FDA goal - when you file for approval for a big enough disruptive product, they will find all sort of downsides to drag your feet. The good rule of a thumb is if you are rejected the second time, you most likely won't get anyway ever. So FDA's job is to come up with good enough excuse to put your product/approval down with as sounded reason as possible. Followup: if you love these kind of stories and dirty rabbit holes, lookup how Aspartame was initially approved by FDA. Goosebumps and head shakes guaranteed!