Regulating Pharmaceuticals

Is government oversight strong enough?

Introduction

A scandal over mold-contaminated medicine that killed dozens of patients last year has added fuel to a debate over how well federal and state officials are policing the safety and effectiveness of prescription drugs. Innovative medicines have helped drive down death rates from such diseases as HIV/AIDS and cancer, but other drugs have spurred concerns about safety, physician prescribing practices and patient abuse. Painkillers known as opioids are blamed for a nationwide wave of addiction, for example, and the growing overuse of antibiotics has led to a surge in deadly, drug-resistant infections. Meanwhile, beginning next year, the pharmaceutical industry, which spends nearly $29 billion annually on product promotion, must disclose an unprecedented level of information about its efforts to market drugs to consumers and doctors.

The widespread prescribing of OxyContin and other painkillers known as opiates

The ...

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