for example, ashwagandha or valerian. whenever you search them up it states something akin to “safe to use for up to 6 weeks. long term effects are unknown”
people have been using these medicines for centuries… can’t they just conduct research?
In: Biology
Testing the effectiveness of a new drug would cost millions of dollars. If it were, say, a new high-tech treatment for COVID, the pharmaceutical company could rest assured they could make those millions of dollars back in the profits from selling the drug. No everybody has the equipment to make cutting-edge medication, and they would get a multi-year patent where no one else was allowed to copy their formula.
But if they paid millions of dollars to test valerian, they would never make that money back. They can’t patent a plant that everyone’s known about for millennia and that grows freely outside. Anyone with the seeds could grow and sell it and take a giant cut of the profits.
Not to mention, getting FDA approved is hella expensive. There’s mandatory random inspections and testing. You have to verify the purity of your product to a much higher degree. If you can just sell some half-rate valerian with a “This product has not been approved by the FDA” label and people will still buy it, why bother?
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