Thread by @RealSpikeCohen

"But without the FDA, who will protect us from dangerous, unproven drugs?"

That's very often the opposite of what the FDA does.

Take for example Biogen's new drug Aduhelm.

Aduhelm was just approved by the FDA for treatment of Alzheimer's, despite the fact that it failed its clinical trials, and 40% of the people who used it suffered brain swelling.

The FDA's own review of the data showed no evidence of benefit.

Because of this, the FDA voted 10 to 1 not to approve the Aduhelm.

Clinical trials were restarted after some additional data analysis, from Biogen, showed that a higher dose of the drug reduced brain plaques in some patients over a longer period of time.

Presumably, that means an even higher percentage of patients will suffer from brain swelling due to the higher dose.

Those new trials will take years to complete, and all available evidence shows that Aduhelm does far more harm than potential good.

Despite all this, the drug received FDA approval under the "Accelerated Approval" pathway.

Biogen is charging $56k/yr for it, which thanks to it being the newest FDA approval on the market for Alzheimer's, will have required approval by Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies

Let's do some quick math to figure out what that'll cost just to Medicare:

If just a quarter of the Medicare patients who are treated for Alzehimer's are prescribed Aduhelm, that's about 500,000 patients.

500,000 x $56,000 = $28 billion

$28 billion PER YEAR of taxpayer money, for a drug that appears to do more harm than good.

To put that in perspective, Medicare currently spends about $37 billion a year on all other drugs combined.

The international scientific community, as well as the FDA itself, has determined that Aduhelm is unsafe and ineffective, and yet the government is going to force insurance companies to cover it, and pressure doctors to prescribe it.

Why are they doing this, you ask?

Because pharmaceutical companies demanded it.

If Aduhelm was worth half a damn and they could prove it, Right To Try laws would allow them to simply sell it to the populace as a trial drug at a deeply reduced price.

straitstimes.com/world/united-s…

Those who were willing to try a new, unproven drug (like the ones who signed up for the trials) could do so. If it's effective, they could sell it at market value to everyone else who wants to see that it works first.

If it’s not effective, then they couldn't sell it, because no one would want it, and government wouldn't be forcing anyone to prescribe or insure it.

Simply letting people be free to make their own choices would be far more safe and efficient than this nonsense.

It’s important to make sure that the food & medicine we consume is safe. The state is the last group of people we can trust to do so.

While our health is held hostage by government, always read the medical literature. No amount of political interference changes biochemistry.