Drug Firms Fail to Conduct Post-Marketing Studies
Sometimes it seems that the government has less and less control over the pharmaceutical companies. This is a perfect example of the drug companies ignoring mandates from the FDA. Apr 17 (Reuters) – Most of the studies that federal health officials require drug companies to perform on new medicines after they hit the market are never done, a US consumer group charged on Thursday. Often when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a drug, it orders the manufacturer to conduct further studies of side effects or how well it works for certain patients. But only 13% of the 88 follow-up studies required for drugs launched in the early 1990s were completed, according to a report by consumer group Public Citizen. No studies were finished for 107 drugs that went on the market between January 1995 and last December, the group said.