FDA proposes bypassing doctors, selling prescription drugs over the counter

Tuesday, May 08, 2012 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: FDA, prescription drugs, over the counter

(NaturalNews) When it comes to freedom of food choice, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers Americans to be too stupid to make their own dietary choices. But when pharmaceuticals are involved, the FDA apparently thinks individuals should be able to completely self-medicate themselves without a prescription, having recently proposed new guidelines that would make it easier than ever for patients to access high-risk prescription drugs without even having to see a doctor.

The Washington Times reports that a new four-page proposal made by the FDA suggests that cholesterol (statins), diabetes, and asthma drugs, among others, be made available over-the-counter (OTC) to patients without a prescription. And what is the reason for this? According to the agency, too many patients are not getting their prescriptions filled, and many would-be patients are not going in to receive the treatments that their medical overlords feel they should be receiving.

The drug industry, in other words, is losing profits because many patients simply are not participating in the health care system as we know it. So to help boost participation, the drug industry's gatekeeper, the FDA, is working on behalf of Big Pharma to make prescription drugs as easy to access as a candy bar or a pack of gum, even though prescription drugs are typically extremely high-risk and come with severe side effects.

"The FDA has not offered any evidence establishing that it is safe, or patient outcomes are improved, when patients with hypertension, [high cholesterol], asthma or migraine headaches self-diagnose and manage these (or other) serious chronic medical conditions on their own," said Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, who testified on behalf of the American Medical Association (AMA) at an FDA-held public hearing recently.

But this has not stopped the FDA, Big Pharma, and various pharmacist groups from arguing that there are somehow too many barriers to patients accessing deadly pharmaceuticals. The FDA's proposal, in fact, explicitly views having to see a doctor before being allowed access to prescription drugs an "unnecessary hindrance," according to Sarah Kliff from the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com).

Both sides fighting for the same goal - to maximize prescription drug use

Meanwhile, both sides of the debate appear to be concerned about one thing, and one thing only -- getting as many people as possible to take their prescription drugs. Peter Carmel from the AMA, for instance, told the Washington Post that he is concerned patients will not take their prescription drugs unless they first see a doctor, while the other side says having to see a doctor deters too many patients from accessing prescription drugs.

In either case, the medical-industrial complex is primarily concerned with drug company profits rather than patient safety. And the FDA, which is also busy aggressively harassing and tyrannizing family farmers selling raw milk to willing customers (https://www.naturalnews.com/033280_FDA_raids_timeline.html), is an active co-conspirator in this drug industry scam to basically deregulate prescription drugs to boost industry profits.

You can view the FDA proposal, entitled Using Innovative Technologies and Other Conditions of Safe Use To Expand Which Drug Products Can Be Considered Nonprescription (Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0171), here:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-2012-N-0171-0001

Sources for this article include:

http://www.washingtontimes.com