Had a chat with a pharmaceutical company whistleblower recently.

They told me that FDA has nothing to do with actual product testing, e.g., human trials. What the "approval" guarantees is proper facilities and other second-order criteria.

I'm writing this comment in the hopes of learning that I have misunderstood something crucial here. Because if it is indeed the case that the companies themselves are the only ones vouching for drug safety, that old story about capitalism and incentives implies we're seriously fucked.