PBS NewsHour Interview with Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach FDA Commissioner
Just wanted to alert readers to a segment of PBS Newshour with an interview with Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach. It has both audio and streaming video of the interview as well as a transcript of the interview.
Online NewsHour: Newsmaker Interview | FDA Overhauls Drug Oversight | January 31, 2007 | PBS:
Several interesting thing I picked out were as follows:
- All the initiatives announced earlier this week will be done within their current budget.
- The pilot program for “report cards” will start in March 2007.
- Reiterated this is a first step in an ongoing processes.
I found this exchange interesting. Margret Warner was trying to get at how the FDA will handle situations where there is disagrement between scientists such as the recent Vioxx case.
MARGARET WARNER: Well, let me ask about a specific examine, because when Congress looked into the Vioxx situation, there was testimony on the Hill that there had been scientists who had expressed misgivings about Vioxx’s safety, and they had been basically overruled or were not listened to by FDA managers. Is that going to be corrected?
DR. ANDREW VON ESCHENBACH: Yes. Well, in the sense that we have to have processes in place where differences of opinion can come forward when there are needs for that to come through, an ombudsman function or be brought for resolution, those processes have to be in place.
The interesting thing is, although he did answer the question (but it was a simple yes or no question) he didn’t have any specfics. In other cases, he had specifics but in this case it was just, we need to have a process.
Overall, I thought it was a good interview and hopefully these initiatives will indeed be the first steps in improving the FDA and drug safety.
Technorati Tags: FDA
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