Power to the … pharmaceutical companies?
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008If the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of barring lawsuits against Food and Drug Administration-approved medications, pharmaceutical companies will be quite pleased. Earlier this year the Supreme Court reinterpreted a 1976 amendment that had originally been intended to protect the public against dangerous medical devices by requiring the FDA to review and approve such devices before they could be sold to the masses. The reinterpretation led the Supreme Court to bar lawsuits against FDA-approved medical devices. Now the Supreme Court may extend this ruling to FDA-approved drugs. If this happens, some tens of thousands of lawsuits will be dismissed, and the public will have no recourse or protection when harmed by pharmaceuticals.

