“America is the most-medicated nation on earth, and for too long the FDA has functioned as a rubber stamp for the industry it is supposed to regulate. The next commissioner must put patients ahead of pharmaceutical profits and break the corporate capture of the agency.” — Dr. Joseph Varon, President and Chief Medical Officer, Independent Medical Alliance
Following the departure of FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, the Independent Medical Alliance (IMA), America’s largest coalition of independent physicians, researchers, and clinicians, today urged the White House to choose a successor focused on real reform and on ending Big Pharma’s grip on the nation’s top drug regulator.
“Over the past two decades, America has become addicted to pharmaceuticals. Today, 7 in 10 American adults take at least one prescription drug every single day,” said Dr. Joseph Varon, IMA President and Chief Medical Officer. “The next commissioner cannot be another caretaker for the industry. The job demands reform, which includes dismantling the FDA’s corporate capture and restoring a clear, unwavering bias toward patient safety and long-term health.”
Last month, the IMA released a white paper documenting that the United States is the most-medicated nation on earth: 69% of American adults take at least one prescription drug daily, and one in three take four or more.
“This isn’t healthy, period,” Dr. Varon continued. “When one in three American adults takes four or more prescriptions, we are no longer practicing medicine. We are managing pharmaceutical dependency.”
The numbers behind America’s prescription crisis:
- U.S. prescription spending hit a staggering $806 billion in 2024, up 10% from the previous year.
- Americans filled 4.98 billion retail prescriptions in 2025. That’s roughly 15 prescriptions for every man, woman, and child in the country.
- Among adults 65 and older, nearly 9 in 10 take at least one prescription drug, and more than half now take five or more simultaneously, a rate that has roughly tripled over the past two decades.
“The next FDA commissioner has a choice: keep rubber-stamping the industry that put us here, or take the side of the patient,” Dr. Varon concluded. “Independent doctors are calling for the latter; a leader with the conviction to confront pharmaceutical dependency as the public health emergency it has become.”
