Ineffective Drugs - Still on Market even after FDA declares useless

Looking at the approval process for drugs in this country, we often see that big drug companies manage to hide side effects (like Vioxx), or market ineffective medications (like Zetia) at huge profits; without significant oversight.

This continues to occur. Recently the FDA determined that two of the generic versions of an ADD drug, Concerta, was not equivalent to the brand drug. Rather than last 24 hours they lost effectiveness after 7. The FDA gave the drug company 6 months to prove equivalence or remove from the market.

Now, 7 months later, neither has shown this yet continue to account for 30% of prescriptions.

I think these should have been immediately removed from the market, rather than let the companies continue to profit from possibly ineffective medications.

Check out the New York Times Article