Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Zeev Hed]

Unfortunately, "Off label" use of new drugs is extremely difficult to control. Drug companies have legion of detail people visiting physicians, and without "openly" suggesting use of drugs off label, by "wink and giggle" and anecdotic "evidence" get physicians to broaden the application to many conditions for which such drugs have not been tested. The situation is even worse in life threatening situations, where the FDA, for reasons beyond my comprehension, approves drug for specific cancers (like IMCL' Erbitux (see an earlier post of mine on the subject #msg-2364433) and then by "wink and giggle" procedures, they expand it to many other situations threatening the lives of those patients. I think it is time that drug company official take the oath each physician does of "doing no harm" before attempting to do good. Right now the bottom line pressures are simply too strong, and moral compasses in corporate board rooms too rare.