Look up the evidence that statins have any effect whatsoever on morbidity or mortality. Hint, there is no such evidence. None at all. That's a whole heap of money being spent for nothing based on the claim that correlation==causation. That's a whole bunch of refunds people should be expecting but will never see. At least the old snake oil would give you a buzz for your dollar.
The problem I have with Vioxx is that nobody ever demonstrated it to be better than generic NSAIDs. It was, however, more expensive and less well studied (in fact some of the efficacy studies were found to be frauds). That goes well beyond being blindsided by a subtle problem.
It's really quite simple. New drugs need to actually be superior to the existing drugs (and in particular, generics) for the particular patient to even be worth considering. Not just for cost considerations, but because of having a longer track record. Instead, our medical costs spiral out of control because of expensive new drugs being prescribed when cheap and old drugs would do the very same thing with less chance of an unknown side effect cropping up.
Medical research isn't easy, but results that cannot be re-produced are less then worthless. Sadly, those same irreproducable results are too often taken at face value for approving and prescribing drugs. Some of those studies are fudged or outright fraud. Others are the result of study shopping. Commission 10 studies, bury the 9 with unfavorable results and trumpet the 1 remaining one from the rooftops.
All of this is creating a huge credibility gap. Then when these same bozos say "you need this vaccine, it's safe and effective", more and more people say "Yeah, sure it is". Yes, the vaccines really are necessary and safer than not having them but it's like the one case where the used car salesman is actually trying to sell you a great car for a steal.
