Big Pharma moves to the White House

The Obama administration has become so concerned about the slowing pace of new drugs coming out of the pharmaceutical industry that officials have decided to start a billion-dollar government drug development center to help create medicines.

The new effort comes as many large drugmakers, unable to find enough new drugs, are paring back research. Promising discoveries in such illnesses as depression and Parkinson's that once would have led to clinical trials are instead going unexplored because companies have neither the will nor the resources to undertake the effort. Drug companies have typically spent twice as much on marketing as on research, a business model that is increasingly suspect.

The initial financing of the government's new drug center is small compared with the $45.8 billion that the industry estimates it invested in research in 2009. The cost of bringing a single drug to market can exceed $1 billion, according to some estimates.

This is what has always bothered me about the FDA. If the federal government approves a drug to be safe and allows it to go to market, I believe the company should be insulated from tort liability unless some fraud that resulted in the approval is proven.

It's amazing how many late night ads you see from tort attorneys seeking to line up class action suits before the first prescription has been filled.

If a company is going to be liable for any sort of tort injury then what the hell do we need the FDA for? Won't the market place simply take care of companies bringing defective products to market?

In addition, I'm sure Obamacare has given Big Pharma all the incentive in the world to bring new products to market. After all, we all know how "pro business" the Obamunists are.


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