The FDA approved Erbitux yesterday. Now that Sam Waksal is in jail, Martha Stewart is in court, Martha Stewart's company has lost 38% of its market capitalization, and 100,000 have died of colon cancer. Now the FDA has decided that it's okay.
I knew the Wall Street Journal Ed Page would cover this, and they don't disappoint (paid-site only):
One of the most shameful chapters in the history of the Food and Drug Administration ended yesterday with the approval of Erbitux to treat late-stage, metastatic colon cancer. Erbitux finally got the green light, the agency noted without apparent irony, "under FDA's accelerated approval program."I blogged about the cost of regulation in denying Americans access to broadband Internet. I should be ashamed of comparing that to tens of thousands of preventable and delayable deaths.
I remain a big fan of the new FDA Chief McClellan. He is trying to reform this bureaucratic nightmare. Faster, please. Faster.
Posted by jk at February 13, 2004 09:29 AM