Deadly Delays in Treatment | Newsbusters

The number of COVID-19-related deaths is on the rise. Politicians tell us to put on masks and get vaccinated.

It’s a surprise, in the face of such fear that COVID-19 is still feared by many that no more has been reported about these two drugs.

Pfizer’s Paxlovid was tested blindly and found that it reduced hospitalizations and deaths by 89%. The tests were so successful that Pfizer was advised not to continue them.

“They halted the clinical trials!” exclaims Michael Cannon, director of health policy at the Cato Institute in my New video.

“They decided it would be unethical (not to give the drug to people in the control group.) But if it’s unethical to deny them the drug, it’s unethical to deny the American public that drug!”

Great point. That’s exactly what the Food and Drug Administration does. They force us to wait until they’re sure all drugs “meet the agency’s rigorous standards.”

What length of time could they wait?

“If the FDA is following its current practice,” says Cannon, “it’ll be a matter of months.”

This is a significant improvement on the FDA’s usual 10 year turnaround. The FDA loosen regulations in order to provide medicines faster during the pandemic.

“(But) we’re still losing thousands of lives unnecessarily,” complains Cannon.

Many AIDS drugs were not approved by the FDA at the start of the AIDS epidemic. Some Americans formed “buyers clubs” to purchase AIDS drugs from Mexico. That’s what the movie “Dallas Buyers Club” was about.

However, it is against the law to purchase unapproved medicines from another country.

The United Kingdom now approves Molnupiravir (Mercck’s coronavirus-antiviral pill). The hospitalization rate was reduced by 30% in clinical trials.

It can’t be done in America. “More input is needed,” says the FDA.

Although more input is good, FDA processes are slow.

“The United Kingdom approved molnupiravir back at the beginning of November,” Cannon points out. “The FDA didn’t even meet to decide whether to approve it until the end of November. In the meantime, thousands of Americans died.”

While people die, President Joe Biden praises the FDA for their “hard work.”

“We shouldn’t be praising them for doing a job that no one should be doing, which is violating your rights,” says Cannon. “If we just gave patients the freedom to purchase drugs other countries had approved, we would go a long way toward restoring your right to make your own health decisions.”

FDA regulators do not want to cause death but have an incentive for slow progress. Bad publicity can result if FDA approves a drug that causes pain or suffering. They might be fired.

When people die due to delays in approval, bureaucrats are not at fault. It is impossible to know the identities of those who might have been spared.

“That’s why the FDA always tries to make sure that it never lets an unsafe drug on the market,” says Cannon. “Even if the cost is years of delay and many, many lives lost.”

His solution? No FDA.

I disagree. “Some people would try drugs that would kill them.”

“Yes, some people would have adverse drug events,” he replies. “But the number of lives that we would save would absolutely swamp the number of lives that we lose to unsafe drugs.”

Because some individuals were being harmed with quack medicine, the FDA was established 100 years ago. Some are still being affected.

“The entire premise of an agency like the FDA is that you’re not smart enough to make these decisions for yourself,” says Cannon.

He tells me that maybe we aren’t smart enough. “I’m not smart enough to judge whether a pill really works or I’m being sold snake oil.”

“It’s not true that you’re not smart enough to make this decision yourself, John,” he says. “You can consult experts, your physician, medical journals, Consumer Reports. Other countries have their own regulatory agencies. Every day the FDA delays costs lives.”

He’s right.

After a regulatory agency was established, it is easy to believe that government alone can handle the task. However, this is not the truth.

“The FDA needs to get out of the way,” concludes Cannon. “Let patients make decisions for themselves.”

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