Vioxx approval process was probably faulty

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS organization in the United States which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Central America and India, has highlighted the current "FDA fiasco" involving the FDA's initial approval and subsequent recall of Merck's troubled arthritis drug, Vioxx. In their opinion Merck and other drug companies have hijacked a 'fast track' drug approval process initially developed by the FDA to bring life-saving AIDS drugs to market more quickly in order to seek huge profits on other, now troubled drugs.

"In its never-ending quest for huge profits, the pharmaceutical industry has driven a Mack truck through the 'fast track' drug approval process exception that the FDA first instituted for the very first AIDS drugs," said Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation president. "At a time when thousands of Americans were dying from AIDS and there were virtually no AIDS drug treatments available to the public, AIDS activists chained themselves to the FDA's headquarters, an act of civil disobedience that served as a catalyst for the FDA to streamline the approval process for such life-saving AIDS drugs. However, from Vioxx to Viagra, it appears that drug companies have now hijacked the fast track approval process for profit over people, as the safety crisis over Vioxx clearly demonstrates."

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