3 ms·
Read up on Vioxx [1] to know exactly what the free market will do. Drug companies simply won't test for safety (or lie about the results). Any 3rd party will
by cogman10 2y ago
Read up on Vioxx [1] to know exactly what the free market will do.
Drug companies simply won't test for safety (or lie about the results). Any 3rd party will be seen as worse than worthless. They'll either be funded by the competition to undermine trust in competitors or they'll not have the funding needed to advertise their results (they'll be indistinguishable from cranks).
And further, No free market mechanism will actually have enforcement mechanisms. Which means unsafe medicine will stay on the market indefinitely.
Testing for safety is a costly endeavor that pharmaceutical companies will pretty happily ditch.
We know what the US without the FDA looked like. The FDA wasn't always there. In that bygone era coke was sold as a health drink and milk was blue. [2]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rofecoxib https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rofecoxib
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swill_milk_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swill_milk_scandal
- gibbitz 2y agoJust like VW diesel emissions... No better motive to lie than the profit motive!
- Freedom2 2y agoThis is an uncharitable viewpoint. The US has progressed significantly and each generation has been smarter and more empathetic than the last, meaning a free market is the end state of all economics. There isn't a single US owned and operated company that simply puts profits above all else these days, and there is a great deal of care taken even before regulators get to the companies.
- cogman10 2y agoGo look up when vioxx happened and tell me what's significantly changed since then. Oh, and realize we have emails from executives about hiding the evidence that vioxx causes heart attacks, before the drug was approved.