Cancer patients and their advocates are criticizing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over the approval of new cancer drugs. They accuse the FDA of blocking experimental drugs that could save thousands of lives.
Cancer strikes one in three Americans, kills one in four, and is only second to heart disease as the nation’s biggest killer. New experimental medications offer some hope. But the FDA’s stringent regulations mean only 8 percent of such drugs get final approval. The regulation process slowed down even more when the FDA came under Congressional scrutiny after it approved Merck's painkiller Vioxx, later pulled off the market in 2004 because of safety concerns.
The advocacy group Care To Live is holding a nationwide protest Friday against the FDA for delaying the approval of a prostate cancer vaccine called Provenge. An FDA advisory committee voted 17-0 that it was safe, and 13-4 that it showed substantial evidence of being effective.
Business Week senior writer Catherine Arnst wrote about the battle over new cancer drugs, and joins Word of Mouth to discuss why cancer drugs are being held up.
(Photo by Derek K. Miller)
