Health
AMA urges FDA to prioritize science
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 3, 2006
In the wake of several Food and Drug Administration actions that have been perceived by many as driven by politics rather than science, the American Medical Association took a position at its Annual Meeting in Chicago last month that the agency should not allow political considerations or conflicts of interest to overshadow scientific evidence when making policy decisions. The agency also should include the "brightest" scientists on advisory committees and councils regardless of political affiliation or voting history.
"The FDA has the responsibility to approve drugs for sale once their safety and efficacy have been demonstrated. ... The integrity of this process of approving drugs by the FDA is now in question," said Jacob Gerritsen, MD, president of the Maine Medical Assn.
The agency responded that politics did not interfere with decisions that were supposed to be scientific in nature.
"We appreciate the sentiment expressed. ...We make our decisions whether or not to approve a product based on a thorough analysis of the data," said Theresa Toigo, RPh, the FDA's acting associate commissioner of external relations, who spoke for the agency at the meeting.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/07/03/hlbf0703.htm.