Excessive Caution on FDA Approval May be Risky

They FDA must approve it for clinical testing first, I believe.

Yeah, that sounds familiar. Although if they're complaining about drugs being rushed onto the market, they'd have to be testing it for years to pick up on possible long term effects. Sounds like one of those "lesser evil" things to me.

Yea, the FDA can't honestly test for long-term effects. In my opinion, the regulations should be left as is unless they believe they could optimize even further. The numbers don't lie.

Exactly. It becomes a question of evaluating for years, spending all that extra funding and manpower to do so, and potentially withholding a treatment that could still benefit many people.

I don't think it would be worth it, and the numbers you posted have proved that particular case, at least.

Oh, I agree. Drug prices are high enough as it is. Additional research costs would only cause them to go higher. I think a large portion of the problem is the fact that the public equates "FDA approval" with something being "safe," which, if you read the listings for side effects for any given drug, is obviously not the case. The terrifying truth is this: doctors are given incentives to prescribe certain medications. Health care is a business. Money rules.
Obviously, I've just become fed up with the "take a pill to fix it" society. I'll just leave it at that and not launch into a full blown rant here.

The terrifying truth is this: doctors are given incentives to prescribe certain medications. Health care is a business. Money rules.

This is one thing I'm not happy about personally, public health and safety have long been the responsibility (and purpose) of the domestic government, why is this an exception? It feels entirely wrong to have it controlled by market forces.

This is the first time I've seen people be measured in "life years".