Thursday, May 25, 2006

FDA - Doberman or Toy Poodle?

Republicans stripped a measure on the House floor Tuesday that would have given the Food and Drug Administration more power in ordering drug companies to perform safety trials.

The measure would have given the agency authority to force pharmaceutical manufacturers to conduct safety trials of drugs already on the U.S. market. A Government Accountability Office report concluded in March that the FDA lacks the authority to compel such trials.

Both Republican and Democratic critics of the agency have called for the additional authority as a way to guarantee closer safety tracking of drugs after they`ve hit the market and are being prescribed to patients.

The provision was included in a bill funding agriculture programs and the FDA by members of the House Appropriations Committee last week. But it was removed when GOP lawmakers complained that altering FDA policy was not in the committee`s jurisdiction.

More here.

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