FDA's Graham - Blowin' in the wind

What makes someone decide to blow the whistle? It's often a complex mixture of thoughts and feelings, some high and noble, others less so.

The US government is keen on whistleblowers in some circumstances. Look at the money to be made in some cases:

http://pharmagossip.blogspot.com/2005/10/serono-kickback-in-cannes.html

http://pharmagossip.blogspot.com/2005/09/margaritagate.html

But what if you are planning to blow the whistle on the US government! On the FDA ("a federal science-based law enforcement agency mandated to protect public health and safety" - according to its website) for example. How are you treated then? And what happens afterwards?

USAToday has just interviewed FDA employee Dr David Graham a year after he blew the whistle on...... the FDA.

"Today, the United States of America is worse off when it comes to drug safety than it was a year ago when I testified," Graham says. That's because the FDA's recent drug safety initiatives serve only as window dressing, diverting attention away from real solutions, such as an independent Office of Drug Safety, Graham says.

And he's not alone in this stinging analysis:

An article in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association supports Graham's assessment of the FDA. Especially in the past five years, writes Howard Markel, a University of Michigan pediatrician and history of medicine professor, the FDA has been heading downward "from a sterling — albeit very human — regulatory agency into one much more tarnished, politicized, and increasingly disputed by the very people it was designed to protect."

So. No megabucks for Dr Graham for blowin' the whistle. And no real change to the FDA, yet! But lets hope that "the times, they are a changin'".

Read the full interview here:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-11-16-fda_x.htm