Like a game of three card monte, the FDA, the mainstream media and liberal bloggers have joined together to deny life extending options for victims of breast cancer – sacrificing life on the rationing altar of budgetary constraints. Once you understand how the game is played, you will see that patients will always lose.
Three card monte is a street card game where a dealer uses two shills to con unsuspecting observers to bet money. In this case the dealer is the FDA and the two shills are the Associated Press and the left-wing blog, TalkingPointsMemo.com.
Understanding the game is the key to understanding how ObamaCare and it’s rationing scheme will work. It’s time to learn the rules.
The FDA is tasked to determine the safety and efficacy of drugs. They are not charged to determine drug pricing; just safety. Avastin was originally labeled for treatment of breast cancer patients in an expedited fashion based on initial studies that showed the drug produced on average nearly 6 months without tumor progression. So the FDA is now looking a follow-up study that shows an average of about 3 months without tumor progression. These are average time frames, meaning that many in the studies got more than 6 months or 3 months in the respective studies. The FDA also looked for new adverse events (side effects) and determined that there are no new safety concerns raised in the trials for breast cancer applications for the drug Avastin.
Despite the determination that the drug was safe and effective, the FDA is trying to de-label the drug for use with late stage breast cancer patients by changing the evaluation rules to use the price of the drug to determine its effectiveness. That is rationing. Period. The FDA created a subjective standard they call “clinically meaningful.” Sounds impressive but what does that mean? In the case of Avastin, which has been shown to actually work, the FDA is just saying that the average extension of life of 6 months just isn’t meaningful enough. That is the new rules of the game. The dealer always wins.
Once the rules have been changed, the shills move in. The Associated Press takes the new subjective language intended to lead people to believe the drug is being de-labled because it doesn’t work and in turns that into actually false information saying that “recent studies finding that the drug did not extend patients’ life spans and also increased the incidence of side effects and other complications.” Patently false.
Then when US Senator Vitter expresses concerns about the decision, the Associated Press blatantly and falsely attacks him and attempts to discredit him. Associated Press, reporting on efforts by Sen. David Vitter to ensure doctors had the option of offering Avastin, proclaimed incorrectly that — and this is a direct quote — “While he did not use the term “death panels,” his complaint mirrors false allegations raised last year by Republicans such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who claimed the Democratic health care bill included “death panels” that would decide who deserves treatment and who doesn’t.” Talk about bias and the basis for a smear. That is where shill number two comes in.
The Talking Points Memo takes the death panel claim and runs with it. Declaring Vitter’s objections “VitterCare,” the blog quotes generously from the false, bias and misleading implications of the Associated Press story calling Vitter’s actions a “smear.”
Both shills defending the dealer using subjective standards with hazy labels that get turned into patently false information in a compliant and willing media. That is the way the game will be played and patients lose.
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