The FDA currently plays two roles: Safe, Effective.
As soon as the Drug is established to be safe, it should be available for sale with accurate advertising as to effectiveness.
Safe (should) come in several levels: Safe over the counter. Safe behind the counter at the pharmacy. Safe prescribed by the doctor for external pharmacy fill. Safe when administered by a medical professional.
The accuracy of the advertising should take into consideration that it always informs both the patient ... and the professionals.
Many drugs which currently must be prescribed by a doctor are in fact so safe that there is no logical reason for a prescription. Going to a doctor for the sole reason of getting a prescription adds hundreds of dollars to the cost of the drug.
For example, a skin cream benefits me. That skin cream should not be taken internally. Well already I have access to thousands of things that should not be taken internally. What makes the FDA so worried that I would take this skin cream internally that they will allow it only be sold under prescription?
And helps the doctor keep customers coming through his doors....
> What makes the FDA so worried that I would take this skin cream internally that they will allow it only be sold under prescription?
Tide capsules come to mind.
Safe and effective is NOT a role they do well, or we’d not have drugs that cause various forms of Cancer, GI, heart disease, neurological, Suicide or addictions like Lyrica, Neurotin, Cymbalta, Xanax, Prozac, Humeria, Lunesta causes extreme Rage, Reglan, OA/OP drugs. Which they keep putting on off label use. Many of them have Black Box warnings on them. Just look at the lawsuits over that surgical mesh for bladder or hernia repair. Not all lawsuits are friouluos. Gardasil has a ton of them, deaths pay out is at last count $6M with hundreds of thousands of girls on the lawsuit list for lefe time health damages. https://medium.com/@jbhandley/hpv-gardasil-injury-scandals-worldwide-why-is-u-s-media-silent-parents-beware-86b416691f5b