A massive majority, about seventy percent, of Americans take at least one prescription drug everyday. However, people are often surprised to hear that pharmaceutical companies conduct and submit their own tests to the FDA, who simply reviews the findings to approve or disapprove medicine. Logically, it is easy to see how pharmaceutical companies will cherry pick their data in order to get their drug approved and on the market for sale in order to make some type of a profit, making that approval almost worthless. Pharmaceutical companies selling to the general public need tighter regulations due to the faulty and manipulated research conducted on new market drugs.

Because pharmacy is a business, in order to get a drug approved quickly, thereby making money quickly, pharmaceutical companies will tamper with testing for new medicines. Not wanting their drug to be disapproved, pharmaceuticals will only present positive data to the FDA by manipulating research (Pietrowski). In the early and late 1990’s GlaxoSmithKline, a pharmaceutical company that manufactured a drug commonly known as Aropax, an antidepressant, ran clinical trials on Aropax. The apparently successful trials they published seemed accurate and honest, but were outrageously skewed and misinterpreted. The real trials exhibited trivial or negative effects caused by the drug, such as the fact that, “at least eight adolescents in the paroxetine group  had self-harmed or reported emergent suicidal ideas compared to only one in the placebo group (Jureidini). Thus, not will the children not benefit from the medicine, they will unnecessarily be ingesting drug that can be harmful for their health.   Not only that, but many acclaimed medical journals are aware of the manipulated research (Pietrowski). The editor of the The Lancet ,the world’s most revered medical journal, is Dr. Richard Horton. Dr. Horton recognizes that, “Much of scientific literature...may simply be untrue…”(Pietrowski).  Because of all the manipulated data, he claims, “Science has taken a turn towards darkness”(Pietrowski).  Moreover, Dr. Marcia Angell- previous editor in chief of the New England Medical Journal,another extremely respected medical journal- agrees with Dr. Horton. Fired for being a whistleblower, Dr. Angell wrote The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive us and What to do About It (2004). In it she sardonically explains the research method utilized by pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Angell reveals that drug data is misrepresentative from the get go (Kohls). When pharmaceutical companies claim they have done long term testing, the clinical trial could have been as little as two weeks(Kohls). Moreover, clinical trials consist of patients that are least representative of the general public. They will offshore clinical trials and use already malnourished and ailing people (Kohls). By 2007, only 54% of clinical trials were based in the US (Singer).  Analyzing the situation, it becomes obvious that pharmaceutical companies exploit their own data for FDA approval creating a dangerous situation, a situation that beloved sons and daughter as young as newborns, unknowingly, are tangled in. These malpractices conducted by pharmaceutical companies will not be fixed unless these beasts are caged.

Opponents of pharmaceutical regulation argue that more sanctions on companies will lead to a lesser profit; after these regulations, they will be required to implement more testing. More testing means more money spent before a profit can be made. In turn, they presume that companies will be less willing to research into new forms of medicine. However, it can be proven that they may actually gain money by securing the safety of their drugs. In fact, GlaxoSmithKline, the same drug company mentioned earlier, has lost over $10 billion due to issues with various drugs, like antidepressants or heart medication (“Prescription Drug Settlement”). With more money invested in safe and trustworthy clinical trials, GlaxoSmithKline would have been able to avoid a loss in billions of dollars in lawsuits and settlements. Moreover, on average clinical trials, clinical trials can range from $500 million to $2 billion (Feyman). In comparison to the billions lost in the production and distribution of a faulty drug, this cost is a drop in the bucket. Thus, increased regulation would benefit the pharmaceutical companies by increasing net profits, while also benefiting the public by requiring safe drugs.

Medicine is made to heal, but for pharmaceutical companies, drugs are made for a profit; they will do anything to get that profit. Pharmaceutical companies are solely responsible for creating the medicine prescribed to the public moreover to children, it is essential that these beasts are caged. No one will give their child medicine that has not passed FDA approval, so why should that approval be so easy to gain? In order to keep America and the world healthy, the FDA or some larger government department must regulate the pharmaceutical companies.