Pharmaceutical Leader Calls for Stronger FDA
In a speech today at the Cleveland Clinic Innovation Summit, the CEO of one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies called for a stronger, adequately-funded Food and Drug Administration to help meet the public’s need for new innovative treatments.
David Brennan, head of AstraZeneca (a Healthcare Leadership Council member), said that the FDA needs to be a “watchdog with a full set of teeth.” Here’s an excerpt from his speech:
Clearly, The FDA is doing better than a decade ago, but an understaffed and under-funded FDA is an agency in crisis.
In 2008, the FDA missed more than 50 PDUFA goal application review dates. These delays certainly affect companies, but it’s the patient waiting for the next critical medical advance who pays the highest price.
That’s why at AstraZeneca we are leading an effort, alongside our colleagues at PhRMA, for increased appropriations to the FDA so that it is recognized as a watchdog with a full set of teeth and as an agency with the technology and people it needs to do a more timely and consistent job in regulating us and bringing innovative treatments to patients.
The Cleveland Clinic Innovation Summit continues through Wednesday with leading speakers from the worlds of public policy and pharmaceutical/biotech innovation.
