FDA panel rejects experimental weight loss pill

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, who's stated primary mission is to "protect the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, and products that give off radiation." Sounds like a great idea, and most Americans feel a great sense of comfort that the government is spending billions of dollars to keep us all safe. Shamefully, their mission has been completely undermined by pressure from corporate interests. Everything from untested genetically modified foods, to the ubiquitous Bovine Growth Hormone, to toxic Aspartame, just to name a few examples, have been pushed right on through to market and rubber-stamped by the FDA. Not only has there been dangerous lack of testing, but the FDA has outright ignored scientific data which shows clearly that products they have approved are outright deadly to humans and animals. Try a quick Google search with a term like "deadly things approved by the FDA" and you will get all sorts of links pointing out just how ineffective the FDA really is in their stated mission, in stark contrast to their success in luring Americans into a false sense of security at great taxpayer expense.

In the article "Let them eat cake!" we looked at how corporations were actually literally and deliberately making people sick and obese for profit, along with whatever other nefarious purposes may be behind their not-so-hidden agenda. First they make enormous profits selling nutritionally void food-like substances, passed off as real food, at premium prices. Then when folks gets sick from eating these chemically fortified Frankenfoods, the pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and the entire cost-inflated runaway train healthcare system step in to ply you with drugs and services meant to "cure you" of the very ailments that their closest corporate friends have induced in the first place. They create and profit from the problem, just so they can turn around and sell you some new wonder drug or six-figure treatment. This is all being done right under the "smell no evil" nose of the FDA.

So with the FDA approving all sorts of deadly products, and turning a blind eye to creeping genocide being driven by profiteers, it really is little wonder why we would see an FDA panel actually reject a pill that could help cure the nation's worst public health epidemic, obesity. The panel voted 10-6 against Qnexa by Vivus Inc., citing uncertainty about what risks might be associated with long-term use, despite their unanimous agreement that the drug does in fact help patients to lose weight. It seems that Vivus is not a big enough company to have any serious political pull with the FDA, and don't realize that they are flying in the face of much larger interests that will never let a successful product like that go to market and upset a carefully crafted, highly successful agenda. The FDA approves drugs like Natalizumab (Tysabri) to treat MS and Crohn's disease, despite the fact that it has been fatal and causes liver damage, yet safety concerns over things like "memory lapses" are going to keep a drug from going to market to fight America's number one public health concern.

The ruling is a serious misfortune for the first prescription weight-loss drug in over a decade, and will likely doom two more less effective drugs by competitors that are slated to be tested later this year.