Report Faults FDA Drug Safety Practices

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reportedly facing increasing criticism that it doesn’t adequately protect people from unsafe medications.

Five experts who have advised the FDA on drug safety say the department’s safety studies can miss serious problems with a pharmaceutical, both before and after its approval, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Specifically, the critics note the FDA does not have the authority to order drugs from the market, force changes in labeling, or issue sanctions against pharmaceutical companies that don’t adequately monitor their products.

The five experts are current FDA Drug Safety Advisory Panel members Curt Furberg, a professor of medicine at Wake Forest University; Robyn Shapiro and Arthur Levin; and former panel members Peter Gross and Brian Strom.

The critique appears in the current issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.