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0 pointsStableAlkyne14d ago0 comments

The struggle is the high level regulatory bodies (with the exception of aberrations such as the current admin's approach to appointment) generally select for individuals with a low risk tolerance. Low risk tolerance is generally incompatible with speed - it's a miracle the covid vax and treatments were approved as quickly as they were in 2020.

Biggest example of this risk aversion is the peptide craze going on (the most famous of which are GLP-1 antagonists). It's pretty much a wild west where people read a low-sample animal study, and buy a drug that's "for research only, not for human consumption" off of a compounding pharmacy in China.

Few human studies because even if you have willing and enthusiastic volunteers it's too expensive and creates legal liability. And the FDA cannot approve it without a high bar of evidence (for effective treatment and low risk) and costly, time consuming reviews. Because of this, there is a black market for the things and people are basically being their own test subjects.

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mft_14d ago

> The struggle is the high level regulatory bodies (with the exception of aberrations such as the current admin's approach to appointment) generally select for individuals with a low risk tolerance.

This may be true, but I don't think it's the major driver of conservatism. Two thoughts/observations:

1) Bodies like the FDA face a strongly skewed set of incentives. If they take a risk on something and people get hurt, they face huge public criticism. If they take a risk on something and it's all fine, very few people care or notice. As such, they are strongly driven to not make a public mistake - which drives ever more conservatism.

2) FDA can actually be innovative compared to other health authorities. Breakthrough therapy designation, Project Optimus, Project Frontrunner, and others - show this. However, they've got a strong 'not invented here' mindset - they flatly refuse well-meaning individual innovations from pharma companies, if they're not compatible with FDA's guidelines. And they're heavily bureaucratic, meaning the innovations that do appear are usually following years of process (which probably links back to #1).

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mft_14d ago

> The struggle is the high level regulatory bodies (with the exception of aberrations such as the current admin's approach to appointment) generally select for individuals with a low risk tolerance.

This may be true, but I don't think it's the major driver of conservatism. Two thoughts/observations:

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