Not directly related to HepC, but of interest to our US friends, and source of amazement to me. Particularly this section_

Contrary to Popular Belief the FDA Does NOT Independently Evaluate Drugs

Contrary to what Getler and PBS would have you and the public believe — the idea that the FDA does independent objective premarket evaluations — the “FDA does not develop or test products; FDA experts review the results of laboratory, animal, and human clinical testing done by manufacturers” only.3

The lack of independent verification of drug companies’ claims is a major problem, as fudging and manipulating research has become commonplace. Investigations have shown that most of the scientific misconduct occurs in the drug literature (compared to general biomedical literature).

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/02/22/pbs-dietary-supplements.aspx

As always, take Dr Mercola’s writings with a grain of salt, but mostly he’s pretty on the ball.

Edit – for clarification, “PBS” in this article refers to America’s Public Broadcasting System, not Australia’s Prescription Benefits Scheme.