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Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs
41–50 of 82 posts
Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue I described existed before the administration change. Neither's parties people wants to be poisoned.
> Neither's parties people wants to be poisoned. Voters for one party keep taking horse medicine and we can't seem to stop them when they experience negative side effects, and we couldn't get them to get vaccines even as their friends and loved ones were dying begging for it at the last minute. There's definitely a party divide here.
I share your skepticism about false equivalence in general, but have to admit this particular issue to me gets at the heart of serious problems in US healthcare, and I don't see either party really addressing it. The way in which these problems get ignored by each party, and the rationale for doing so, is very different but so far I see both parties as either turning a blind eye to these problems, or lacking vision.
Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs
#43For more on this, I highly recommend Bottle of Lies by Katherine Eban. Fantastically written book that goes deep on this topic and will absolutely horrify you about everything related to the manufacture of generic drugs.
My mom was a hospital pharmacist when she was still working and was beating the drum on this all my life as far as I can remember. All it accomplished was getting her called racist and xenophobic and losing friends :(
Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs
#44I'm so angry right now. I did a deep dive into this at one point after being prescribed some generic Vyvanse through Sun via Dillons/Kroger. The pills smell like fish and seem like they didn't work at all. I checked some records from the FDA and Sun wasn't listed. I brought it up to my doctor and they just brushed it off. I really hope another class action lawsuit is brought against Sun.
I have nothing but respect for physicians but my experience is that each acts as a more narrow filter than the last and, beyond their direct expertise they have very little expertise in billing, pharmacy or anything outside of their direct domain, nor do they have the bandwidth for it. Add to that the advertising phenomenon of 'ask your doctor about X' and I suspect that anything beyond the immediate care you're rece…
I have plenty of criticisms for the physicians lobby in the US, but kind of agree this is one area where I'm not sure the problems lie in physicians (outside of some very general sense that they tend to be in key positions of influence in healthcare systems in government and elsewhere).
I do think it's a good example of why pharmacists should maybe have more power in the drug prescription process, and also wonder why insurance companies or pharmacies don't ban drugs from certain places and/or sue them themselves more often.
Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Medicine is one of the most regulated and least capitalist markets.
Capitalism cannot exist without regulation. There is no such thing as a "free market". Capitalism relies upon regulation to enforce the enclosures it builds. Regulations are a direct product to protect profits. For example, Medicare is prohibited from negotiating prices with drug companies for most medications. A few exceptions were carved out with the IRA passed under Biden. The VA can it pays a lot less. Why is Med…
"Capitalism cannot exist without regulation. There is no such thing as a "free market". Capitalism relies upon regulation to enforce the enclosures it builds. Regulations are a direct product to protect profits." - Source?
Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
How did you find out what factory the Vyvanse was made at?
You can figure out the generic manufacturer by matching the active ingredient with the pill shape, color, and imprints on a pill identification website. Finding the exact factory of that manufacturer is much harder though.
If you're going to a pill identification website to find out the manufacturer of a prescription drug, you're working too hard. The manufacturer printed is on the prescription label.
Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs
#47Manufacturing drugs in India is like manufacturing them in Haiti. Why would anyone think that would be a good idea?
Care to explain?
Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Neither's parties people wants to be poisoned. Voters for one party keep taking horse medicine and we can't seem to stop them when they experience negative side effects, and we couldn't get them to get vaccines even as their friends and loved ones were dying begging for it at the last minute. There's definitely a party divide here.
I share your skepticism about false equivalence in general, but have to admit this particular issue to me gets at the heart of serious problems in US healthcare, and I don't see either party really addressing it. The way in which these problems get ignored by each party, and the rationale for doing so, is very different but so far I see both parties as either turning a blind eye to these problems, or lacking vision.
It feels like there’s a house on fire and one party is like, “It’s fine, I don’t see the problem and neither do you” and the other party is like “OMG the house is on fire, quick pour gasoline on it.”
I’ve sort of accepted it’s going to burn down. The problem is that it doesn’t seem there’s anyone capable of rebuilding it.
Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Capitalism cannot exist without regulation. There is no such thing as a "free market". Capitalism relies upon regulation to enforce the enclosures it builds. Regulations are a direct product to protect profits. For example, Medicare is prohibited from negotiating prices with drug companies for most medications. A few exceptions were carved out with the IRA passed under Biden. The VA can it pays a lot less. Why is Med…
"Capitalism cannot exist without regulation. There is no such thing as a "free market". Capitalism relies upon regulation to enforce the enclosures it builds. Regulations are a direct product to protect profits." - Source?
This is self-evident.
Imagine a society with no laws, no regulations and no courts. How would you enforce a contract? How would you resolve a dispute other than "might is right"?
Even beyond this, we have a thriving commercial aviation industry. How would that work without safety standards? How would consumers have confidence in the planes? What about pilot qualification? Managing airspace? Having confidence in the parts you need, the people you need to maintain the planes and things like the fuel that goes into the plane without regulation?
Occasionally anarchists or libertarians and argue you can Yelp review your way to a functioning market. "Pilot could not fly plane but was nice to us. 2 stars"
The idea of "deregulation" is fundamentally silly and entirely devised to increase profits by getting rid of pesky safety regulation while maintaining regulations that protect profits and restrict competition. Imagine what deregulation would do to Vertizon or AT&T. Do you really think deregulation will remove restrictions on municipal broadband? Or instead just remove requirements to build out their networks to less profitable areas?
Libertarianism and deregulation are just fundamentally ridiculous ideas. Ergo, you need regulation for a market to function.
Re: Threat in Your Medicine Cabinet: The FDA's Gamble on America's Drugs
#50The report is horrifying, but in the current US political climate it is very hard to see how a government agency could undergo any positive cultural change. A quick search finds recent firings [1] and [2]... who would lead a change? [1]: https://floridianpress.com/2025/06/rep-wasserman-schultz-sla... [2]: https://fortune.com/2025/02/16/trump-cuts-fda-layoffs-food-s...
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