The FDA has been in the news lately. For those returning from two month news-free National Geographic vacation in Antarctica, a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts was supplying vials of preservative free methyl-prednisolone for epidural injections and much more. Some of these vials were tainted with fungus. Many people got sick. Some died. The FDA does not typically have any statutory authority over such compounding pharmacies. But, anything related to pharmaceuticals gone bad gets the attention of the FDA. So, it took us a while to get an answer from the FDA about a completely unrelated item – also in the news, but less so.
The cycling world went public with evidence about performance enhancing ‘doping.” Doping is defined broadly, and includes anabolic steroids, EPO, human growth hormone, and more. Whether doping was or is ubiquitous in the cycling world is not the subject of this blog. It’s the question of whether doctors can prescribe various pharmaceuticals and stay on the right side of the law.