Posted on August 29th, 2008 in
Articles
Mr. Pom asked:
If there was any invention that has greatly improved people's quality of life it would be the many inroads that have been made in the field of medicine. At one time in our history, even minor infections resulted in premature death. This, however, is contingent on the notion that the antibiotic works effectively. Sadly, there are those antibiotics that deliver on less than what they have promised. In the case of Ketek antibiotic medicine, the end result of taking the drug has often proved disastrous.
Ketek antibiotic drugs have been at the center of a firestorm. This is because there are a number of health hazards associated with these antibiotics. This is tremendously unfortunate, as scores of afflicted individuals had hoped Ketek antibiotic drugs would alleviate their problems. Instead, the Ketek antibiotic drugs yielded the inverse effect: the drugs actually made their condition worse.
Part of the problem derives from the fact that testing requirements for approving new antibiotics on the marketplace are not exactly all that thorough. For example, as the rules are currently written new antibiotic do not have to bring anything new to the table. That is, they do not have to provide any improvements on pre-existing medications that are currently on the market. There are a number of reasons for this not the least of which being the inclusion of new drugs provide more choice for patients. Also, it certainly doesn't hurt the economy that new antibiotics are brought into the marketplace. The inclusion of a successful new antibiotic can significantly increase a pharmaceutical company's stock price.
However, there is a risk of a negative result as well as evidenced in the problems associated with Ketek antibiotic drugs. That is, it is not necessary for Ketek to bring anything new to the table. It simply needed to provide a result consistent with products that are already on the market. Had the Ketek antibiotic drugs been required to bring advancements to the table it might have discovered its adverse side effects and corrected them or it would have been kept off the market completely. Perhaps, the unfortunate situation that has come out of the Ketek antibiotic drug would have been avoided under a more optimum rules and regulations.
This is not to infer that all problems associated with any particular drugs can be averted with minor rule changes. However, it would be safe to say more safety-oriented rules that raise the bar of performance higher on new drugs into the marketplace would potentially eliminate a number of hazards.
