France is claiming that the FDA approves too many medications that are impossible to pronounce.
The FDA is in hot water with France, which is suing them for approving too many medications that are impossible to pronounce. France is asking the court to order the FDA to stop approving these drugs until they can be properly pronounced. The evidence is quite damning- out of the top 200 drugs prescribed in the US, only 54% have an easy-to-pronounce name. The other 46%? Many of them are French drugs. The lawsuit came almost immediately after the FDA approved a medication to treat unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. France officials provided the following statement:
“C'mon, how the hell do you say tremelimumab?”
After the statement, the official stormed off and had no further comment.
The French government is fed up with their citizens having to take medications that they can't even pronounce, and they're demanding that the FDA start doing something about it. They point out that many of these drugs have dangerous side effects that could be easily avoided if people could just pronounce the name of the medication.
The FDA has yet to respond to the lawsuit, but they are under a lot of pressure to do something about this issue. With France leading the charge, it's only a matter of time before other countries start chiming in. This could get very messy for the FDA, and they will undoubtedly be forced to make some changes in the way they approve medications.