[goldpizza44]

> Now you get to choose whether to take it or not.

The question is who is paying for these treatments? Drug companies are not shy about charging tens of thousands of dollars a year for a course of treatment that may or may not help. Insurance companies and Medicare partD will probably be reluctant to reimburse. Drug companies have large incentives to get patients to pay out of pocket, and no, they won't refund if the product is not effective.

Perhaps if the FDA were to create a new class of approval that states: Drugs under this class are shown to not cause harm but are also not proven to be helpful. They may be taken, but drug companies may not charge for supplies until efficacy is shown in controlled conditions.

The primary issue here is there are plenty of Snake Oil salesmen ready to tell you anything you want to hear and have no qualms about taking "somebody's" money.

I am sure creating a new class such as this, will also create a host of unintended consequences though.