Posted by SLS on July 2, 2012, at 7:38:38
In reply to Corporate Psychiatry/Psychology, posted by huxley on July 2, 2012, at 6:41:10
Huxley.
You make some very fine points.
> Why do people accept these studies as valid while dismissing independent studies?
Which ones?
That's the problem.
Can you find independently financed clinical trials of a drug that were conducted BEFORE that drug was approved for marketing? They are not very common. I would challenge you to find one. If you cannot, then what would you suggest as an alternative?
One must rely upon the fidelity of the scientists conducting the studies, regardless of where the money comes from. I happen to know several. I would take exception to anyone accusing them of corruption. The NIH does not have the funds to shadow every drug being tested in the US. Capitalism has its faults when left unregulated and without oversight, don't you think? Perhaps. However, I'm pretty sure that it worked better than Soviet communism in producing healing agents.
What would you suggest as an alternative to the drug development and approval process?
Perhaps clinical studies should be registered with the FDA in advance so that they can all be reviewed and accounted for. There could then be a committee that judges the acceptability of each study for inclusion in statistics. I don't know what might be the disadvantages of using a system like this.
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1020670
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120630/msgs/1020674.html