Monday, March 05, 2007

Report Blasts FDA's System To Track Drugs

The Food and Drug Administration has bungled its effort to build a new system for detecting the side effects of medicines after they go on the market, delaying its implementation by at least four years, according to a report commissioned by the agency itself.

As a result, the agency must continue to rely on its existing "dysfunctional" computer system as a primary tool for tracking the safety of medications sold in the U.S., according to the November 2006 report, which hasn't been made public.

Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal

Steve - this is not good news. As always, take extreme caution when considering any medication that is new to market. In many cases, the medication had not been adequately tested in humans prior to launch, and the public are the guinea pigs!


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