Safe and effective or not, drugs will remain on the market

Recently it was reported in Rueters that the FDA claims that drugs on the market whose FDA approval was obtained with false documents and manipulation of test samples are nonetheless safe and effective.  The article below is about a research firm that does studies for drug companies that has been falsifying data to gain the FDA approval for drugs it is testing for drug companies.  The FDA is asking the companies who contracted with Cetero Reseach to volunteer this information, because the FDA claims it does not know which drugs or companies are involved.  The FDA has no idea which drugs were approved based on false data, thus has no way of knowing if safety and efficacy of the drugs are compromised.  The FDA is apparently not aware of the regulatory purpose the FDA is supposed to serve.  The FDA asking Drug companies that the FDA discovers have relied on corrupt data to gain FDA approval of their drugs to police themselves is evidence that the FDA is not actually regulating the Drug Industry.   more on Cetero

via Rueters:

FDA finds U.S. drug research firm faked documents

(Reuters) - Drug companies that had medicines tested by contractor Cetero Research might have to reevaluate results, U.S. regulators warned after the firm was found faking documents and manipulating samples.

The Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday two 2010 inspections, an internal company investigation and a third-party audit uncovered "significant instances of misconduct and violations" at a Cetero facility in Houston.

The Cary, North Carolina-based firm does early-phase clinical research and bioanalytics for a number of drugmakers. The pharmaceutical companies can then use those studies as supporting evidence in drug approval applications to the FDA.

"The pattern of misconduct was serious enough to raise concerns about the integrity of the data Cetero generated during the five-year time frame," the FDA said, warning drugmakers they might have to repeat or confirm any studies Cetero did in support of their applications between April 2005 and June 2010.

It remains unclear which drugmakers have used Cetero's services to apply for regulatory approvals and the FDA is asking companies to identify such instances. The regulators said the measure is precautionary and the safety and efficacy of drugs already on the market are unlikely to be affected.  read here