A Hard Look at the Usefulness (or Otherwise) of New FDA Guidelines
If you’re anything like me, you realize that the FDA is an agency that is not doing its job. It truly can’t be. The evidence is the opioid epidemic mess this country is immersed in that was triggered by criminal practices initiated by Purdue Pharma and followed by other pharmaceutical companies. FDA stands for Food and Drug Administration. Who should have been more involved in oversight of this industry than the FDA? Who should have acted to protect the American public? And who did nothing?
The FDA has just released a draft of proposed guidelines to pharmaceutical companies on how they can bring new drugs intended to treat opioid addiction to market. (Drug-based treatment of addiction is referred to as medication-assisted treatment or MAT.) Never mind that MORE drugs is not the answer to addiction. A study of these guidelines should raise serious questions in the mind of any sane person.
For the Center for the Study of Drug Addiction Policy, I reviewed these guidelines and noted the questions that were raised in my own (hopefully sane) mind. If this is a subject you have an interest in, I hope you will take a look at my examination of the FDA’s document.
