Tag Archives: FDA approved drugs

A Billion Dollar Business

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A while back I blogged disparagingly about the FDA, how they approve thousands of drugs that end up being recalled, or worse, killing people. Can you believe there are over 20,000 prescription drug products approved for marketing? Commercials list horror stories of side effects, and not the good kind like suppressing the appetite or reducing the appearance of wrinkles. I remember thinking, how on earth did that drug ever pass clinical trials?

The pharmaceutical business is just that — a business. Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying everyone associated with creating and/or approving drugs for marketing is only in it for the cash but the yearly billion-dollar-budget pharmaceuticals pay to those who regulate the drugs they’re peddling seems a bit self-serving, don’t you think?

Take the latest push to sell QUVIVIQ, a drug that purports to help with insomnia. Actor Taye Diggs has the affliction (as do I, which I blogged about last Sunday). In the commercial he talks about counting sheep and listening to white noise and nature sounds, all to no avail.

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What Baffles Me

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I may as well confess there are many things that baffle me. You’d think at this stage of the game I’d have it all figured out, right? But actually, it’s the opposite; age has not lessened my bafflement.

For instance, I was cruising down the freeway recently, in the slow lane for once in my life, when I heard honking in the lane to my left. Since there wasn’t traffic and we were all going the speed limit, I wondered why this person was laying on the horn. Not just a toot toot but a continual blast that lasted seconds.

I was in my SUV with our Marin Friends of Ferals placard on the door, our MFFCATS license plate and a window banner that says marinferals.org. So naturally I figured it was a fan of ours honking approval of what we do.

As the young man sailed past in his sports car, he lifted his arm, pointed his hand toward me, then flipped me the bird. I was shocked. I’ve never been flipped off before — a pretty good track record for an almost 67-year-old, don’t you think? Anyway, I chalked it up to him being a cat hater. But still, it was baffling.

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