An anonymous reader writes "Forbes has a story comparing the safety controversy over the diabetes drug Avandia to the open-source movement. Criticism has been leveled by cardiologist Steven Nissen who used Google to find clinical studies on Glaxo's website, then reanalyzed them.
From the article:
"Both houses of Congress are expected to pass laws that tweak the way the FDA monitors the safety of new medicines after they are approved. Many of the most radical changes, like a proposal to restrict TV ads and a push from Grassley to set up a separate FDA division to monitor side effects, didn't make it into the Senate version. But the bill would compel drug firms to make all of their data available on public Web sites. That, in turn, would let academic watchdogs like Nissen troll for side effects more easily.
It's an open source approach to drug safety.""
