Pubic risk, private profit (2).

by reestheskin on 16/12/2015

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This is from the US, but adds a different flavour to what I posted yesterday from Japan. I think it was Martin Wolf in the FT who pointed out that pharma runs the risk of being held in the same regard as many of us view the ‘banks’ and much of modern finance.

“The support by a consortium of major drug companies shows they’re clearly interested in obtaining the ability to do off-label marketing themselves, even if they haven’t been front and centre of the fight,” he [James Beck, attorney at Reed Smith] said.

The decision could have big implications for the pharma industry, because it paves the way for drug companies to push their medicines and treatments for a variety of illnesses without doing costly clinical trials to convince regulators that they work.

Instead, companies could choose to market their drugs for a wide range of illnesses, pointing to evidence with a much lower bar, such as the anecdotal experiences of patients and doctors.

FT