“Because the link between excessive LDL cholesterol and cardiovascular disease has been so widely accepted, the Food and Drug Administration generally has not required drug companies to prove that cholesterol medicines actually reduce heart attacks before approval."
"So far, proof that a drug lowers LDL cholesterol has generally been enough to lead to approval. Only then does the drug’s maker begin an events trial. And until the results of that trial are available, a process that can take several years, doctors and patients must accept the medicine’s benefits largely on faith.”
Bush even has his faith-based initiatives deep in the heart of the friggin’ FDA. If the FDA isn’t the most crooked federal institution capable of the most outlandish racket, I don’t know what is. The funny thing is…I had an open opportunity to work in their pediatric device division. Ha. Working for the government is on par with waterboarding (writing that word disappoints me…I just found out that my Mac OSX Leopard doesn’t know it. Get on it Apple! Hurry up and include all the more popular forms of torture in your dictionary!).
But really…I’m glad the NY Times is going on the attack against these damn drug companies who’ve been duping the FDA and you and me for years and years.
I’ll stand by my words regarding statins. They’re a farce. Reducing your risk of heart attack mortality is much more complex than your LDL level. The problem is, we can’t bottle up complexity and sell it to the masses. They have to break everything down to one ridiculously simple bit-player entity so they convince doctors and the public that they are buying a pill that will save their lives. And doctors lap that sheisse up. It makes them feel like they’re doing their job and patients feel like they’re eating a longevity potion.
I’m going to simplify the complexity…the real truth about these statins for the general public lies in the Number Needed to Treat.