FDA's Trolley Problem
Interesting comment by Fallon at https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/adumbrations-of-aducanumab/comments#comment-2538655
Whatâs most shocking is always how much the doctors and even internal employees internalize the FDA mentality that youâd let 10,000 people die from approval delays vs one person go to the hospital from an unintended side effect.
First thought: This the trolley problem. Do I throw the train track switch to save the 10,000 people on track one and send the train down track two to kill 1 person? Many people are okay with not throwing the switch. They donât want to be responsible for actively killing 1 person.
Second thought: No, this isnât the standard trolley problem. This is really someone with a big gun standing at the track switch to keep anyone from throwing it.
Third thought: No, itâs not that either. Itâs 10,000 people on track one with a 100% chance of being killed. And some of them want to move over to over to track two where they only have a 1% chance of being killed. And the FDA has built a fence to keep everyone on track one. And they have guards that patrol the fence with guns. Yeah, thatâs the FDA.