As you've noticed, I often criticize the various medications that are increasingly being forced upon us every year. Of course, I understand that big business is big business and that pharmaceutical company executives need to finance their business jets for flights to Ibiza. 
But the people who need treatment, and the doctors who prescribe them, don't understand this.
This post will discuss a drug that gave false hope to many patients and was the most expensive drug in the world (~$2 million per injection). It's Zolgensma (Onasemnogene Abeparvovec).
I don't know who comes up with such complicated names for these drugs, but it turns out the people testing them aren't exactly the brightest either (though maybe it's the other way around 
).
In short, there's a group of incurable diseases called spinal muscular atrophy. So, big-time entrepreneurs have harnessed scientists to develop a drug that treats this condition, using new techniques to modify the patient's genes (like the viral vector used in the "clot-generating" vaccine, AstraZeneca).
Scientists thought about it, found defective genes that needed to be fixed, and rolled out an experimental drug. Then they started testing it on mice. The control group of sick mice were injected with a viral vector of green fluorescent protein, and the experimental group was injected with the drug itself. Well, the logic is simple: if sick mice with the drug outlive sick mice without the drug, then it's in the bag. And according to the first statements of scientists, they outlived and lived a full life. In 2019, the FDA approved Zolgensma , i.e. they confirmed that the drug is safe and effective.
The drug was rolled out onto the market, and various medical institutions began using it. The government and various foundations paid the pharmaceutical company to supply the drug to their patients. The families of thousands of patients saw it as a panacea, even though, in fact, the drug doesn't actually make patients healthy , which, for me personally, leaves a terrible feeling that such therapy is pointless. After all , why prolong someone's suffering and then pay 2 million for it? It sounds cruel, but that's just my opinion.
In short, Big Pharma started reaping its profits. And this continued until patients started dying after injections. These patients were two children from Russia and Kazakhstan. These were the first deaths following this drug. Of course, they say the causes of death were different, but I had my doubts, and perhaps my intuition was right this time:
This month, interesting facts began to emerge: A 2010 scientific publication describing experiments on mice was retracted . It turned out that during the experiments, the researchers inaccurately recorded the results of their observations, and unverified data was included in the report.
In some places, the reported lifespan of mice deviated from the actual lifespan by a couple of days, and in others, by as much as 19 days. Personally, I find this information perplexing. The company itself announced this and began firing the responsible employees and conducting a secret (!) investigation.
The most interesting thing about this story is that the FDA "gurus" weren't deterred. The decision was made not to recall the drug from the market. I quote the "experts": "The discovered inaccuracies do NOT affect patient safety or the effectiveness and quality of the product." Although, in fact, the safety and effectiveness of this product have not yet been 100% established.
Who believes them? I certainly don't . Now think about how much more of this possible (!) fake science there is in other new drugs?
https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.1610
