The Zika Breach of Public Trust: The Wealth Transfer Model From U.S. Taxpayers to Big Pharma
In less than a decade, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared four global health emergencies, starting with the 2009 swine flu outbreak. In 2012, the “wild” polio outbreak followed the flu pandemic. Both fizzled out, underperforming their hyped lethal spread. At the Sixty-Fifth World Health Assembly “Poliomyelitis: intensification of the global eradication initiative,” which convened on April 5, 2012, the Secretariat Report stated: “In the majority of countries, out-of-season outbreaks are no longer being…
Gardasil 9 Vaccine Prompts Push for National Program
U.S. government health officials continue to push hard for a countrywide mandate of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. They maintain that the cost-benefit ratio of the new nonavalent Gardasil vaccine, which contains nine HPV strains, the ticket to succeeding in their efforts to get every girl and boy in America to take the vaccine. In 2006, a 4-strain version of Merck’s Gardasil vaccine was the first HPV vaccine to be fast tracked to licensure in the U.S. and it contained two HPV strains associated with cervical…
America’s Own Overlooked Microcephaly Epidemic
Now that U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials have concluded that, without a doubt, the Zika virus is the cause of microcephaly,1 it appears they have created a permanent synonymous bond between the virus and the birth defect. When someone sees a baby with a smaller than normal head size, they will likely immediately think, “Oh, look at that poor…
How Conflicts of Interest Have Corrupted the CDC
Conflicts of interest have become more the rule than the occasional exception. Even the trusted US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) receives heavy funding from industry. How this conflict of interest may have affected the organization’s decisions is the topic of an article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), penned by the journal’s associate editor, Jeanne…
Nominee for FDA Commissioner Has Pharma Industry Ties
If confirmed by Congress, the next commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be Robert M. Califf, MD. Dr. Califf is currently the FDA’s deputy commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco—a position to which he was appointed on January 26, 2015, just two months prior to the end of former FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg’s six-year term.
Does Pharma Pressure Sway FDA Drug Approvals?
For patients and physicians, the common belief is that all drugs undergo the same rigorous review, but the truth is, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which stands as the gatekeeper for the sanction of drug and device products, has flexible standards on what they approve and do not approve. Unknowingly to the public, the federal agency approves drugs based on…