Why Can't FDA Get It Right?
Maybe I can’t remember things as well as I used to, but I cannot recall a time when the safety of so many FDA-approved blockbuster pharmaceutical products has been questioned. The latest casualty is Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline’s blockbuster diabetes medication. The New York Times reported today that FDA knew about the potential cardiovascular risks associated with Avandia almost 7 years ago. Why did is take a newly published article in the New England Journal of Medicine to bring these safety issues to light? And, how did this drug, like the Cox-2 inhibitors, get approved without a label that mentioned these potential risks? Maybe the agency thinks that Americans are willing to take more risks than in the past when it comes to the medications that they take? I do not have answers to these questions. That said, the US public’s confidence in FDA must be at an all time low or close to rock bottom! The recent commotion over Avandia, Vioxx and other drugs made me to think about a comment that a friend of mine (who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 25 years) said to me about 10 years ago; “I never take a new drug until it has been on the market for at least 5 years”!
Maybe she knows something that I don’t?
Until next time….
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!!
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I was listening to NPR the other day and the Commissioner of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) was interviewed. He mentioned that the USPTO has been hiring 1000 new employees for the past few years. He expects the trend to continue for the unforseen future as the number of patent applications continues to increase. Based on his interview, he indicated that a new hire at the USPTO with the appropriate background could earn as much as $86,000 per year. Folks with experience can be hired at salaries in excess of $100K. Not bad for reviewing patent applications every day..jpg)
I presented a number of seminars at the Experimental Biology meeting a couple of weeks ago offered attendees a number of ideas regarding alternate career paths for individuals with Ph.D. degrees. One new emerging career path that is still under the radar is something called project management. The name is self evident—your job as a project manager is to manage projects. Project managers are responsible for managing a project according to specified timelines and within the budget that was set for the project. .jpg)
Hi Gang,