Some Good Sense on Pharma

See some very sensible posts on Medical Rants about the current controversies in the pharmaceutical world. One cites a New Yorker article about how Merck hoisted itself on its own petard by over-selling Vioxx as if it were a risk-free consumer product. To quote the other:

The pharmaceutical companies should provide moneys for drug testing, but have no influence on what studies are done or how they are performed. Only if we have the research at arm’s length from those in position to benefit from the study results can we have ethical evaluation of new drugs. Is this position anti-capitalistic? I argue that the public welfare requires that we have good data on drugs, diagnostic tests, etc.