When Big Pharma loses money it effects the FDA’s budget, which in turn pays FDA salaries.
To give you an example, we know that in 2013 the FDA requested a $4.5 billion budget, 40% to be paid directly by the pharmaceutical industry through user fees.
So this is how big pharma pays the FDA, it’s masked as a drug approval process?
When big pharma’s coffers take a hit, so do the FDA’s. And that is not good for the rest of us consumers.
All because of “fees” that pharmaceutical corporations pay to the FDA.
The financial fates of the FDA and the pharmaceutical/medical device industry are deeply linked. Pharmaceutical companies have been known to pay potential generic competitors to stay out of the market. They are known to promote new drugs that offer little or no new benefit, and they convince the FDA to grant them market exclusivity for old, generic drugs and cheap, natural treatments.
Natural treatments cannot be taken through the FDA. If there’s not an enormous profit to be made via patent protection, Big Pharma isn’t usually interested. And if Big Pharma isn’t interested, doctors don’t hear about it, since much of doctors post-med-school education is sponsored by drug companies and all doctors are fearful of losing their licenses if they stray too far off the FDA reservation.
Integrative doctors and other natural health practitioners help fill this gap, often at great risk of offending authorities and putting their licenses at risk. Imagine jeopardizing so many years of schooling and training in order to speak the truth and help others.
Through its actions on inexpensive, natural alternatives to pharmaceuticals, FDA has clearly demonstrated its loyalties lie with Big Pharma and not consumers.
Let’s remind the FDA that we are watching and won’t stand silent while this scam continues to affect our health and lives.
