Union of Concerned Scientists March 29, 2012
This newly signed regulation was being spun like a great thing for the general public as mentioned numerous times before that this new law will make life saving drugs readily availabe to the general public with quicker approval process. Read this article below on how much the pharmaceutical companies spent in the past three years lobbying. As we mentioned before in previous threads, the FDA will now have the power with this new law to approve and not approve those drugs they think will benefit them as well as pharma. In other words, do not hold your breath on autologous stem cells getting quicker approval. If you can't bottle it and make billions off of it or threatens their cash-cow, "drug sales," treatments with stem cells will be stalled as much as possible.
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/fda-lobbying-numbers-1376-1.html
The science advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists (USC) is lambasting what it claims is excessive industry pressure on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and claims the pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology sectors spent a combined $700 million between 2009 and 2011 to lobby legislative and executive officials.
“Pharmaceuticals companies and related trade groups spent more than $487 million on lobbying over this three-year period, while biotechnology firms and their trade groups spent more than $126 million and device manufacturers and their trade groups spent more than $86 million,” wrote USC in a statement released to the press.
“All this money skews the debate and diminishes the public’s voice on these issues,” said Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Scientific Integrity Program. “What’s at stake here is FDA’s ability to make independent, science-based decisions that affect our health and safety.”
USC’s analysis also showed millions donated to members of Congress serving on FDA-oversight committees including the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
The lobbying number may be particularly inflated for this period due to the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which industry spent well in excess of $100 million on (Inside National Health Reform, McDonough).
In a separate press release, USC claimed the lobbying efforts are focused in part on “relaxing the stricter conflict-of-interest rules enacted in 2007 that directed the FDA to reduce the number of experts on its advisory panels with financial ties to the industries the agency regulates.”
USC said it would be making its own case for “even stronger scientific integrity standards at FDA.”
This newly signed regulation was being spun like a great thing for the general public as mentioned numerous times before that this new law will make life saving drugs readily availabe to the general public with quicker approval process. Read this article below on how much the pharmaceutical companies spent in the past three years lobbying. As we mentioned before in previous threads, the FDA will now have the power with this new law to approve and not approve those drugs they think will benefit them as well as pharma. In other words, do not hold your breath on autologous stem cells getting quicker approval. If you can't bottle it and make billions off of it or threatens their cash-cow, "drug sales," treatments with stem cells will be stalled as much as possible.
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/fda-lobbying-numbers-1376-1.html
The science advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists (USC) is lambasting what it claims is excessive industry pressure on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and claims the pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology sectors spent a combined $700 million between 2009 and 2011 to lobby legislative and executive officials.
“Pharmaceuticals companies and related trade groups spent more than $487 million on lobbying over this three-year period, while biotechnology firms and their trade groups spent more than $126 million and device manufacturers and their trade groups spent more than $86 million,” wrote USC in a statement released to the press.
“All this money skews the debate and diminishes the public’s voice on these issues,” said Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Scientific Integrity Program. “What’s at stake here is FDA’s ability to make independent, science-based decisions that affect our health and safety.”
USC’s analysis also showed millions donated to members of Congress serving on FDA-oversight committees including the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
The lobbying number may be particularly inflated for this period due to the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which industry spent well in excess of $100 million on (Inside National Health Reform, McDonough).
In a separate press release, USC claimed the lobbying efforts are focused in part on “relaxing the stricter conflict-of-interest rules enacted in 2007 that directed the FDA to reduce the number of experts on its advisory panels with financial ties to the industries the agency regulates.”
USC said it would be making its own case for “even stronger scientific integrity standards at FDA.”