To the Point
How Safe Are Our Prescription Drugs?
With 80 people dead after using a contaminated blood thinner imported from China, the head of the Food and Drug Administration faced withering cross examination from a Congressional subcommittee this week. If a drug is tested by scientists, does that mean it's safe? What if the scientists took money from the company that made the drug?
By Lawrence O'Donnell • • 1 min readWith 80 people dead after using a contaminated blood thinner imported from China, the head of the Food and Drug Administration faced withering cross examination from a Congressional subcommittee this week. If a drug is tested by scientists, does that mean it's safe? What if the scientists took money from the company that made the drug? Would more oversight slow down the process too much? Shouldn't the FDA be able to guarantee the safety of our prescriptions?
Lawrence O'Donnell
MSNBC
Sonya Geis
Senior Managing Editor
Katie Cooper
Producer, 'One year Later'
Peter Pitts
former Associate Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration
Eric Meslin
Director of the Center for Bioethics, Indiana University
Phil Fontanarosa
Executive Deputy Director, Journal of the American Medical Association