Are drug regulators for hire?

[fyzygy]

BMJ study shows that Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia, 2022) was 96% funded by pharmaceutical industry. 

 

[Ishmael Fleishman]

...

Edited August 16 by Ishmael Fleishman

[fyzygy]

It's appalling enough that drug manufacturers would submit not necessarily the safest, or most efficacious, but only the most lucrative products to the TGA for approval. It's doubly concerning that TGA operations are wholly contingent (i.e. financially dependent) on these (largely successful) industrial applications. It's triply concerning that this state of affairs (the full extent of the TGA's financial dependence) was disclosed only by means of a Freedom of Information request. 

 

This is industry self-regulation at its worst, with public health -- the ostensible goal of the TGA -- subservient to private economic interests. A sign of the times, to be sure. ARPANSA (self-regulatory lackey for the giant telecommunications sector) would be another case in point: a captive government agency masquerading as trustworthy guardian of public health and environmental safety. 

 

In an age of limitless profits, industrial self-regulation is a sick joke. But someone is laughing, all the way to the bank. 

 

[Ishmael Fleishman]

...

Edited August 16 by Ishmael Fleishman

[-RC-]

So to answer the OP's question, "Yes, absolutely!" 

Edited September 10, 2023 by -RC-