FDA Refuses To Give Budget For Modernizing Plan

Greg Webb
Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 530
Posted by Greg WebbMay 25, 2008 6:36 PM
Tags: None

At a Senate hearing several weeks ago, Janet Woodcock, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, assured the American public that the heparin found in the United States is safe. Heparin is a blood-thinning drug sold by Baxter International. It is believed to have been tainted by a contaminant in the active ingredients of the batches being processed by one of Baxter’s Chinese suppliers. The FDA says it never investigated this plant due to a clerical error. However, the agency does admit if they had investigated the facility they still probably would not have found anything wrong since the heparin contaminant appeared chemically identical to genuine heparin in initial testing. This contaminant has led to eighty-one deaths in the United States alone.

 

            Woodcock’s reassurance, however, was met with a warning to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that the FDA is underfunded, a 20h-century domestic agency battling to protect American consumers in a globalized, 21st-century world. She asks that the FDA be given more inspectors, modern information technology systems and enhanced science. Dr. Woodcock, however, would not give the Senate a specific price of how much money the FDA needed for the task. By the end of the year, the FDA is set to open three offices in China, staffed with thirteen inspectors.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042601662_pf.html

0 Comments

Have an opinion about this post? Please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Comments for this article are closed.

Subscribe to InjuryBoard Charlottesville

InjuryBoard Charlottesville RSS Feeds

Keep up with the latest updates using your favorite RSS reader

Injury Board Charlottesville is brought to you by Michie Hamlett Lowry Rasmussen and Tweel

Legal Assistance Center

More Info
Michie Hamlett Lowry Rasmussen and Tweel 866-735-1102 x 530 www.michiehamlett.com/
google
Personal Injury Lawyers Serving: Charlottesville, Roanoake, Danville, Bedford, Covington, Culpeper, Farmville, Harrisonburg, Interstate 81, Lexington, Louisa, Lynchburg, Smith Mountain Lake, Staunton, Waynesboro, Winchester
500 Court SquareSuite 300, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 [ Show Map ]120 Day Avenue SW, Roanoke, Virginia 24016 [ Show Map ]
Better Business Bureau Accredited Business Confidential

Your question will be referred to an attorney near you. If your question is of a legal nature, then by submitting this form you agree you are not forming a formal attorney / client relationship. Read our full privacy policy.

Looking for an InjuryBoard attorney closer to home? Click here.

Subscribe to Blog Updates

Enter your email address if you would like to receive email notifications when comments are made on this post.

Email address