Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health The FDA Approved Drugs That Don’t Work - AI Podcast
Jul 9, 2025
A startling investigation reveals that nearly 75% of FDA-approved drugs from 2013 to 2022 didn’t meet basic effectiveness standards. The discussion highlights the risks of relying on surrogate markers instead of real patient benefits, particularly for cancer and Alzheimer’s medications. Dangerous side effects linked to these approvals raise serious safety concerns, with thousands of deaths each year. Listeners are encouraged to take control of their health by questioning drug efficacy, reviewing prescriptions, and using a new public database on FDA approvals.
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FDA's Four Drug Approval Standards
- The FDA approves drugs based on four key scientific guardrails designed to ensure effectiveness and safety.
- These include control groups, replication, blinding, and real-world clinical outcomes.
Low Approval Bar for New Drugs
- Nearly 75% of drugs approved between 2013 and 2022 failed one or more FDA standards.
- Cancer drugs had extremely low approval rigor, with only 2.4% meeting all four criteria.
AZT and Surrogate Marker Risks
- The FDA created accelerated approval in 1992 during the AIDS crisis to speed availability using surrogate markers.
- AZT initially raised T-cell counts but failed to improve survival, illustrating surrogate markers' flaws.