The Dumbest Ongoing Product Bans

Everyone should read this terrific article, about the dumbest bans current invoked by the government.

subtitled: Annual Review of Regulatory Absurdity by Eli Lehrer
The Five Dumbest Product Bans

#1 is the cancer drug Provenge, made by Dendreon (DNDN), of which approval was recommended by the FDA review panel 13-4, with a unanimous vote that "it's safe". However, under suspicious circumstances like conflicts of interest and possible bribery, the FDA itself denied approval, leaving terminal prostate cancer victims with shorter lives and no other promising drug.

This has become just another in a long string of stories involving apparent corporate corruption reaching into the government. Personally, I go in and out of the DNDN stock, thinking one day that justice will prevail and a drug that extends lives will be made available in spite of opposition from big pharma and their lobbyists. I'm currently long the stock once again, since their new test results are supposed to be ready for the feds during 2009.