re: Vioxx... no I'm sure they were aware that the product would kill 10s of 1000s of people, yet they decided to launch it anyway?
cmon... the bad publicity alone would not be worth the money they made from it, not counting whatever law-suit settlements they had to make, plus spend money on recalling the product
as for doctors getting $ compensation for prescribing a drug, I think there are laws against this
the businessmen being on the board of directors for a product that is bad for your health as well as one that is good for you is irrelevant... they are there to make business decisions, not to improve their products or act in the public's best interest... the worth of a drug depends on the scientists who develop it and those who run the drug trials... if someone were to blame, it would be the people who fudge and misrepresent the numbers and dangers associated with a drug
medical transcriptionist didn't see any evidence for cures for thousands of serious cases? also many variables in this - e.g. is the patient actually taking the drug or complying with treatment, is the drug designed to cure the disease? with Avandia, the diabetes will never be cured... it is a disorder of the cells regulating the sugar levels... the drug merely alters the blood sugars by playing with the receptors... it does not claim that it will cure diabetes if you take the drug.... but neither will doing yoga or seeing a shrink to eliminate negative thinking in your life... doctors already recommend diabetics to get exercise and a proper diet... the problem is that many of these diabetics are overweight ogres who cannot be bothered to get up out of their couch and stop eating chips for lunch... I'm sure if they paid a personal trainer to come and get them to change their lifestyle, their health would probably improve a lot more... the doctors sees them once every few months, and has very little control of how these people live their lives - all things considered, I think some drugs are very effective... just like exercising... some exercises are useless and can be harmful... this does not mean that exercising is bad