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03/20/2004: "FDA Follies"

Tyler Cowan of Marginal revolution responded to his coblogger's discussion of drug regulation. He quotes a March 17, 2003 Wall Street Journal article as saying that "A high-price biotech drug ... at the University of Maryland Medical Center ... [was used] 80 times in three years, saving about 35 lives." In the middle of that quote, they note a problem; "The drug, a human bloodclotting protein called NovoSeven that costs $5,000 a dose, hasn't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for such uses."

This is almost an example of government being too large. I say almost, because the usage in question is not actually banned.

I do believe that one duty of government is to assure the free flow of information. If government wants to mandate standards for drug trials, fine. If government wants to demand that those who publish results of drug trials accurately list the standards to which they adhered, I'll think about it. I might even support the demand that companies which sell drugs publish the results of all tests performed on those drugs.

But to flat out say that some drugs cannot be used by consenting adults is just plain wrong. I agree that only a fool abuses drugs, and that a fool and his body will soon be parted. But there is a large and growing list of drugs out there, and no group, not even government, can maintain an exhaustive list of acceptable drug use levels. What the heck, tolerances to individual drugs such as alcohol can vary widely from individual to individual.

And as the aforementioned article indicates, government attempts to establish acceptable drug use levels cost lives.