Is there a concern with Big Pharma and the FDA a regulatory system?

The FDA is responsible for protecting public health by making sure that medical devices, drugs, biological products, food and cosmetics are safe, efficient and secure. The FDA also helps to speed up innovations to the market that make medical products more effective and economical.

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One of its most important tasks is to approve drugs in the US, which can be a timely operation with a lot of communication between FDA reviewers and the companies that want to manufacture the drug. You have to be highly trained and wear suitable PPE gear to be able to handle the medication. You may also need to know how a Pneumatic conveying system works that providers such as www.aptech.uk.com/pneumatic-conveying-systems/  You would expect the reviewers to be impartial so they are not influenced by a pharmaceutical company. However, there have been reports of medical reviewers leaving the FDA and taking a job within the drug industry.

Links between pharmaceutical firms and the FDA

Indeed, Robert Califf, who was appointed FDA commissioner earlier this year, is one key figure as the former chancellor of clinical research at Duke University received funds from drug companies, according to a statement on the Duke Clinical Research Institute website. Califf believes the collaboration between the pharmaceutical industry and the regulators is a good thing.

Dr Vinay Prasad and Jeffrey Bien at Oregon Health and Science University conducted research on hematology-oncologist drug reviewers at the FDA from 2001 to 2010. Of the 55 reviewers, 26 have since left the FDA and 15 – about 60 per cent – went on to work in the bio-pharmaceutical industry. It could be argued that the FDA reviewers may not be as tough as they could be if there is a good chance they will be working on the other side of the fence in a few years’ time. However, hiring people with industry ties does mean the FDA gets experts with diverse backgrounds, so there are arguments for and against this revolving door practice.

Hiring the best staff

To make sure that the right people are appointed, it pays to consult a specialist agency. They can vet candidates and will have thousands of applicants registered with them.
These organisations will be able to source the best candidates, including those who are hard to find. They have extensive networking groups to put out feelers, and they can conduct the initial round of interviews to provide a shortlist of hand-picked candidates.