The doctors are assuming liability or let the patient sign waivers, which I guess is fine. But the lack of a pathway prevents a lot of commercial possibilities. For instance it is almost impossible to build a business around supporting off-label use cases (for instance selling necessary accessories).
Off label prescribing is extremely common.
This isn’t a new or novel concept. Doctors manage patients with off-label prescriptions all day long.
That's not my experience at all, my doctor's have prescribed plenty of things off label. No special waivers.
The business is already built given the drug in question is already being manufactured and available on the market.
> For instance it is almost impossible to build a business around supporting off-label use cases (for instance selling necessary accessories).
There is no need for a business. Off label use is hacking around the existing commercial and regulatory system. The innovation to be had is fixing said commercial and regulatory system, not another business. Make cheap drugs or medical supplies, distribute them to those in need with as little margin and risk to the patient as possible. This is a utility system masquerading as a market. More duct tape by way of new businesses is suboptimal.
I have some difficult-to-treat medical issues and about 1/3 of the handful of pills I take every day are off-label. I think when you get into less common medical concerns off-label use becomes much, much more frequent.
E.g. gabapentin is an anti-seizure medication that has been found to reduce neuropathic pain as well. It has shot up to the 5th most prescribed medication in the last decade as it has replaced long-term opioid use for new chronic neuropathic pain patients. This is 100% off-label and is prescribed by everyone from NPs all the way up to neurosurgeons for this purpose.
I’ve never been asked to sign a waiver and I can’t imagine that for-profit hospitals would allow their doctors to prescribe off-label medications willy-nilly if they represented big liability. (I don’t know this for sure, this is just what my experience implies.)