The FDA announced today that it issued Warning Letters to 14 companies for selling unapproved cancer treatments ranging from thermal devices to creams, ointments, syrups, teas, and various pills. Life is too short to have charlatans trying to steal precious chances for life from cancer patients. While I am glad that the FDA has acted, I hope that these sellers find the inside of a court room and a jail cell as their final business transaction.
The entire FDA notice can be found here and please take some time to review the links on the page. Hopefully, outrage over these actions will result in stiffer enforcement actions and a reduction of the risk to patients grasping for any straw in their battle against this deadly disease. The real question is, why does it take so long for these enforcement actions to take place? Part of the answer has to do with resource allocation and budgetary considerations. Another part has to do with the sheer number of individual firms that are taking advantage of the Agency’s limited resources. Hey, I’ve got an idea! Want to build a wall? How about building it in a circle and placing these violators inside? Or, better yet, take the $51 billion dollars the administration wants to build “the wall” with, and fully fund FDA’s enforcement efforts!
