Drugs are broken in the US. The FDA testing of a drug costs a huge pile of money (I was in Clinical Trials for a while). Most protocols don't work out so your success rate is somewhere around the success of rolling out software. The ones that do, take a long time and allow for a very limited monopoly period. So, you spend a lot of money on advertising to maximize. Plus, the FDA does weird crap and drug producers up the price. It is a very weird cycle. Including, spending a lot of time on stuff that is more lifestyle than cures. Never mind the liability laws, since almost every drug made will react badly with someone.
It is a damn mess, that should have been the first thing addressed in health care legislation, because it is an input cost to health care. I sometimes wonder if separating the research from the producer and guaranteeing royalty for a number of years after approval would have been a good way to go. Much like not allowing film companies to control the theaters back in the day.
The way to deal with it is to allow legal consenting adults to take any drugs they want to - provided they sign a contract saying they understand the drug is not approved by the FDA.
But if a drug is approved by the FDA, then the drug company is inured against liability for that drug.
The FDA already has rules to allow patients to take drugs being tested if they are on death's door (cannot remember the terminology or exact rule).
Drug companies should not have to worry about lawsuits unless they knowing let a dangerous drug on the market, but people and doctors ignore warnings and nothing is totally safe for everyone.
If you've got a chronic/debilitating/painful illness, as long as you're not about to drop dead, no soup for you? I can't see how that is a compassionate, just, or rational policy.
With the current court system, it is about as good as it gets. Contracts absolving other parties of responsibility don't hold up in court. Heck, take a look at all the problems around Accutane. If you take it, you are told and sign forms stating it can cause depression. Well, it looks like that won't be good enough. People's love of punishing the big even companies have doomed those that suffer more than the revenge has ever been worth.
It is a damn mess, that should have been the first thing addressed in health care legislation, because it is an input cost to health care. I sometimes wonder if separating the research from the producer and guaranteeing royalty for a number of years after approval would have been a good way to go. Much like not allowing film companies to control the theaters back in the day.