WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Half of all Americans take at least one prescription drug. One in six take three medications or more.
While all of these drugs go through an approval process, studies don't catch all of the kinks. Adverse drug reactions cause 100,000 deaths a year. It’s a struggle between money, medicine, and safety.
“I was simply given a legal pill called Levaquin and now it's ruined my life." Former pharmaceutical sales rep John Fratti took the drug Levaquin for an infection. He went from charging the basketball court to barely being able to walk. "I've now been diagnosed with suffering from Levaquin-induced brain damage, damage to my nerves, and damage to my tendons."
Less than a year ago the FDA mandated the makers of the drug put a black box warning on the prescription for tendinitis and tendon rupture. Americans are 10 times more likely to be hospitalized from an adverse drug reaction than from a car crash. Drug reactions are the fourth leading cause of death in the country.
Sidney Wolfe, the director of the Health Research Group In Washington, D.C., says, "The FDA and the industry are doing a terrible job of assuring the publicthat what they are getting after the doctor writes the prescription for them is adequately safe."
Doctor Wolfe says user fees are a huge problem with the drug approval process. That's money drug companies pay the FDA to get their products reviewed and put on the market.
Peter Lurie is the Deputy Director of the Health Research Group in Washington, D.C. "We now find people at the FDA who refer to the drug industry as their customers," he says.
The President of The Alliance for a Stronger FDA, Steve Grossman, says some level of funding from the drug companies is necessary because the agency can't survive on the current federal budget. "The FDA needs about a $100 million increase just to break even with the program level that they've had the year before."
There's one safety issue that both the industry and activists agree needs attention - drugs made overseas. In 2007 43% of plants were in China,but inspectors visited less than 3% of them.
Tim Wells says, "The number of manufacturing sites in china is in the thousands. It's still an uphill battle."
John Fratti says, "I want people to know that they need to be their own health advocate."
John doesn't want people to stop taking medicine, just start asking questions before swallowing their next pill.
To report an adverse drug reaction you can call the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or fill out a form on their website at
FDA.gov.
Earlier this year, The Supreme Court ruled people who are hurt by an FDA approved drug still have the right to sue the drug company. For more information, please contact: U.S. Food and Drug Administration (800) FDA-1088 or
www.fqvictims.org.
