Dec 14, 2006

In praise of big pharma

Glenn Reynolds thanks a Pfizer employee for a drug that saved his wife's life. More testimonials to "Big Pharma" follow.
Only a moron would want to live in a society where people are ashamed to work for drug companies. And yet, I'm not surprised to see that resulting from the demagogy that abounds among politicians and "public interest" types who are not serving the public interest whatsoever.

Not to mention lawyers. And I'm not sure anyone is helped when members of the public speak before FDA panels with anecdotal evidence. NPR ran a story last night on an FDA hearing on whether to require warning labels on SSRIs like prozac, paxil and zoloft. The hearing featured a woman whose husband committed suicide screaming at the panel while a crowd of onlookers cheered. Not exactly the ideal method for reaching a scientific conclusion.

But while we're presenting anecdotes, let me just say that I'm pretty sure SSRIs saved my life. I'll leave it at that.

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