This was also a major systems failure on the part of the FDA. Part of this is that Wyeth didn't tell people, but again, like shocking a manufacturer didn't tell someone about their product not working or having harmful consequences. The bigger challenge here is how do 45,000 people end up with heart disease as a result of a drug that they've taken and the FDA doesn't catch it? That's more than half the population of Fargo, North Dakota, I have learned. Right. Some of these reports came in and didn't actually make it back to the advisory committee staffing person. So there's just like failure on failure on failure inside the FDA.
Fen-Phen & Redux were "the next miracle drugs" in the '90s, claiming to help people lose dramatic amounts of weight in just three months. But within a few short years, they'd been pulled from the market. They were just too effective! (Just kidding, they killed some people.)
Support us:
Links!
Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!
Support the show