Also the washington post reports a John Oliver story that most pharma companies spend more on marketing than research. A number of stories has come out over the past few years indicated that phramcos essentially pay doctors to prescribe their drugs.
The real issue here is the idea that medical science is in fact a science. It may have elements of science, but if science is to flourish we must root for the null hypothesis, and there is no incentive in medical science to so do.
No, everyone want to believe the snake oil works. The desperate patient who wants to believe the snake oil will magically cure the illness. The doctor who is going to be paid a huge sum of money to promote the drugs. The legislators who need to win the next election. The regulators who want to get a job after they do their government stint.
I would support allowing risky drugs to be used for terminally ill patients, even children. What I don't support is the routine use of drugs we know are dangerous, and then the litigation after the fact, which arguably a major reason drugs are more expensive. Don't put dangerous drugs on the market, and the pharmcos would save billions, if not ten of billions.