I'm a registered pharmacy technician in Virginia, and I've never heard of this. I'm awaiting your sources.

Sorry about the delay in reply, we had Part I of out boards recently and that seemed to blot out a lot of tasks. Here is a reference describing the fast track policy: http://www.fda.gov/cder/guidance/105-115.htm. If you put "fast track" as a word find it will take you to the desired description on the page (that is the most legit source that I can find, given that it is directly from the FDA itself). If you google fast track and other drugs you'll eventually come across a link that will talk about dangerous drugs that have been pushed ahead using this program (such as: http://breathing.com/articles/prescription-drugs.htm). . .
The thing is this, pharms are companies that are profit driven. I remember talking with a pharm rep when I was working at a mental health facility during one of their presentations to out clinic. He said in a frustrated manner, "I wish all these regulations that are being applied to our products would be lifted so we could be free to do business." I replied, "But you are dealing with peoples lives here." He stated back that, "We are a business, what other business that you know of have to deal with all this red tape." (general gist of the conversation). Now you cannot base your opinion of a system based upon one of its members, yet to me that summed up the pharms perspective nicely, meaning pharms are companies that are profit driven and have specific plans that deal directly with peoples lives. Some would go as far to say that the are repeating the process planned obsolescence borrowed from manufacturers, meaning that the current state of health care is actually planned to keep the population sick and therefore purchasing more drugs. It is the pursuit of the pharm companies to supply a short term patch for symptoms without getting to the cause of the disorder, "Take two and call me in the morning." That increases the most profit by making people come back for more.
What is written here is nothing new. Check out: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/cu...1#RWB9YPKE4HF7D

Atkins is a way of eating for life.

No "diet" is going to get you through the maintenance part... you need a "way of eating for life".

Don't know enough about Stillman to know if that will do that for you.

There's a lot of "diets"... and there's a lot of "eating plans for life".

You're going to have to find one that YOU can live with.

Hi, welcome to ALC, its a great site, with lots of supportive folks.
Have you ever done a support board before, cause everthing is in print, black and white with no emotions, no facial expressions, no winks, and so you might be reading into something that's just not there.
Like, on this board being told YOUR A BIG FAT LOSER, is a compliment that we all aspire to.
I always thought about joining the Peace Corp, what a great job, for hardly any money.
Welcome again, glad to meet you and I know you'll find this a great board and will meet lots of new friends.

Hmm, yeah I thought this might what you were referring to. It allows people who have life-threatening illnesses to use a certain prescription while it's still in the early phases of being tested, before it's been approved by the FDA. It's very expensive and insurance rarely pays for it. The unapproved medication is available to very few people, who've run out of the more common options.

I believe you've misinterpreted what this is all about. Yes, drug manufacturers charge an obscene amount of money for these medications, but they do save lives and are a last resort for very sick people.

(Have you looked at the links I posted? )
- In emergent cases I would totally agree with you. I wouldn't want a broken arm or a MI to come into the clinic, they would definitely be referred to a hospital or other emergent situations. In a twisted way the fast track could be motivated by altruistic measures, but it is subject to the discretion of the secretary at the time. It is not a mind leap to suspect that the actual employees and the board of the FDA have ulteriorly motives for passing certain medications as we are talking about billions of dollars here, I am afraid that the misinterpretation does not lie in my part but by the part of those to whom the power is given . Regardless of how much is being charged for the medications at the user end they are being overused by our population in general. You have people thinking they can take a pill for anything that is wrong with them, instead of using the programing that has already been designed in their bodies for success and health. In emergency cases and as a last call certain measures and medications may be feasible; however, the medical community is extending that concept on the initial treatment of our population and not employing alternative preventative tactics of management.
- There are thousands of examples that can I can draw from. . . For example, statin drugs. Statin drugs inhibit a enzyme HMG-CoA that aids in the pathway that produces cholesterol from the liver. HMG-CoA is also part of the pathway that produces CQ10, which is used all over the body mostly in the electron transport chain part of the production of ATP. ATP is like the currency of the body, it is the energy that we in or metabolism, without it we could not live. Since statin drugs inhibit both cholesterol and the CQ10 at the same time the person who uses statin drugs can expect to have various side effects, ranging from decreased energy to even immune system dysfunction, as the low amounts of CQ10 would reduce the amount of ATP and low ATP means the body does not have sufficient energy to respond to the environment around it. A good management program to tackle cholesterol would be nutrition, with certain supplements that would aid in this process (keeping away from Red Yeast Rice as it works as a statin also), exercise (clinically proven to raise HDL), a low glycemic diet (proven to lower LDL and raise HDL), and chiropractic adjustments (proven to lower the blood pressure). In this case we are talking about preventative medicine and it is in this disparity that this country is lacking to the point that it is ranked as last among industrialized nations for quality of health care.

Thanks for the welcome. The Peace Corps was a good experience, takes you out of your comfort zone and causes you to really ask some foundational questions about yourself. It is never too late , we had a couple that was upwards of 65 serve for two years in my group. Have you ever considered doing a mission trip?

I have, but right now I am really busy with life, if you know what I mean. Someday.

Welcome!!