The Food and Drug Administration, also known as the FDA or USFDA, is responsible for protecting and advocating public health. They are the official government agency that ensures our drug supply is safe and effective. This is achieved through the regulation and supervision of food safety, dietary supplements, veterinary products, cosmetics, vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, prescription and pharmaceutical drugs that can be purchased over- the- counter. When a pharmaceutical company creates a new drug, it has to go through the FDA and is required to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA. The FDA reviews the application to assure that there is an objective proof that the proposed drug is safe and effective. If the
It is understandable that the USFDA has a strict concern for “safety and effectiveness”, but why do pharmaceutical companies charge Americans high prices? According to Young (2005), United States patents are high on prices to encourage fierce competition, hence low prices for generics once drugs come off -patent. The rich countries are blocking the world from obtaining affordable medicines. South Africa has four million HIV-positive citizens (out of a population of 43 million), almost none of whom can afford anti-AIDS drugs. The United States of America, which advocates the interests of its immense pharmaceutical companies, of bullying developing countries into not using the measures in the Doha declaration and the EU of standing by and doing nothing (Boseley 2006). Since the signing of the Doha declaration on November 14 2001, rich countries have failed to honor their promise. It is striking to me how non-transparent pharmaceutical companies may be. It is very understandable that the cost and time put into creating a drug is extremely high, but the reward for creating a drug should be the power of healing the ill. It seems to me that pharmaceutical companies are only concerned about the monetary reward, which is usually more then what its worth. Everyone should have a choice of using any pharmaceutical drug that they believe they can benefit from. Sometimes a person will not be able to understand the pain and agony of others. And sometimes what