Valuing money over patient health, pharmaceutical manufacturers are typically driven financially.
“Off-label” refers to uses which have not yet received approval or proper testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Unfortunately, Big Pharma has been promoting the use of medications to physicians for various “off-label” reasons.
So how does the pharmaceutical industry get away with this? They are actually using the First Amendment as a defense of its dangerous and potentially fatal marketing tactics. Big Pharma appears to think that freedom of speech should protect it from marketing unapproved and untested medication uses.
It is important to understand that the industry is now wishing the FDA to adopt this perspective. If the FDA were to change this policy, the health and wellbeing of patients would be placed in serious danger. There are many examples of people falling ill or even dying due to illegal off-label marketing.
Evidence shows that off-label, unapproved medication use is extremely hazardous and can result in fatalities. When a medication is prescribed for an unapproved use, the chance of adverse side-effects increases by 50 percent. In addition, over three-quarters of all unapproved uses are utterly unproven, meaning that more than 75 percent of the time that medicine is prescribed for an off-label use, it doesn’t help whatsoever.
For more information, contact our Weston medical malpractice attorney at Rash Mueller. and request a case evaluation today.