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Prescription Drugs: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

As you can see from the information above I lost a very close friend due to the side effects of prescription drugs. On this site you will find information about many types of prescription drugs, everything from, "A" - Accutane, to "Z" - Zyprexa. It is a well known fact that all prescription drugs have side effects. As I stated above I am not a medical doctor, and I am not an attorney however, during the last days of my best friends life and every day since then I have done an incredible amount of research regarding prescription drugs, medication side effects, patient legal rights, mass tort lawsuits, and the actual pharmaceutical industry.

When my best friend first died I was of the opinion that everyone that worked at a pharmaceutical company was evil. I was of the opinion that all of them were only interested in the almighty dollar and none of them cared about human life. Through years of reading and research I have found that (thank the almighty lord above) not to be the case. However, the pharmaceutical companies are in business to make money. That being said there is what they call "acceptable risk". When the drug makers are bringing a product to market they test the drug for a limited period of time before they submit it to the FDA for approval. Every drug that was ever released has had some type of side effects. Some are only mild side effects, others are deadly. The drug company uses actuaries just like the insurance industry only the drug company uses them to estimate whether or not potential profit from the drug outweighs the cost of legally defending the drug against individuals that have been harmed or have lost their life due to the side effects. If the potential for profit is significantly higher then the cost of lawsuits then the drug company submits the drug to the FDA for final approval. If the side effects are too great then the drug is usually put on the shelf until they can find other uses for the compound.

Prescription Drug Benefits Vs. Prescription Drug Risks

The problem with drug companies is that they do not use a medication benefit vs. medication risk model. Instead they use the profit vs. legal expense model I spoke about above. If prescription drug companies truly put human life, first and was truly in the business of curing disease, and ailments as well as preventing them we would not see the ever increasing amount mass tort / class action lawsuits that we have today. That's not to say all prescription drugs are bad or that all drug manufacturers are evil, it simply means that they are in the business of making money for their shareholders.

I constantly see what they call in the business "Black Box Warnings" for all types of drugs. The reason these warnings are released is because there is a strong potential of extremely dangerous, possibly life threatening side effects associated with the drug that received the "black box warning". From the research I have done I estimate that 90% of all side effects are initially known by the drug companies BEFORE they submit them to the FDA. I personally feel that the FDA has been to lenient with some of the major drug companies like Merck for example. The side effects associated with Vioxx were well known and even internally documented before Vioxx was released to the public. The FDA allowed Merck to "fast track" the drug to the market. "Fast track" means that the FDA allowed Merck to release the drug to the public before it finished it's initial testing. The FDA allowed Merck to "fast track" Vioxx to the market based on the performance of previously released "blockbuster" drugs. I am of the opinion that the FDA was wrong for doing this and that Merck should not only be liable for the lawsuits it is about to incur as a result of people being harmed by a drug that they knew caused side effects such as: blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, heart attacks, arrhythmia, and strokes but there should also be a fine by the FDA.

The content on the following pages of this site contain information about some of the most harmful drugs on the market. It is my hope that reading the information contained on these pages will help save someone's lives.

Did side effects of prescription drugs effect you or someone you love? I would love to hear from you. Send me your stories and I will do my best to get them posted to the site in a timely fashion.

Maybe the drug companies and the FDA will take notice if enough people, share their stories, put up web sites such as this one, or if need be hold them financially accountable for the lives of our loved ones.

God Bless.