Pharmaceutical Injuries from Prescription Medication

Pharmaceuticals or prescription medicine is supposed to help or heal, not hurt.   Many people take medications believing that pharmaceuticals are thoroughly and independently tested by the government or federal government’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA found at www.fda.gov) before they are allowed to be put onto the marketplace and prescribed by doctors and sold at pharmacies such as walgreens (www.walgreens.com) or CVS (www.cvs.com).

While the FDA hopefully tries to do the best job it can within the constraints of its charter/authority, budget and political power, too often it relies on self-reporting from the pharmaceutical companies themselves to supply it with data and research about the side effects or dangers of the prescription drugs those same companies are trying to sell.  Pharmaceutical companies are for-profit and do everything they can to maximize financial returns for their shareholders.  Good medicine should be a slow, deliberative, evidence-based process and not one that allows prescription medications to be rushed out of a pharmaceutical factory and into the hands of the public.

Some general information can be found at; www.fda.gov

Consumer news from the FDA

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/default.htm