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Safety first
Feb 17th 2005
From The Economist print edition


Pain relief for America's drug regulator

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THE past few months have not been easy for America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA).The worldwide withdrawal of Vioxx, a blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug, by Merck, its manufacturer, has left the FDA open to attack for doing too little, too late given mounting evidence that the product raises the risk of heart attacks. David Graham, one of its own officials, publicly accused the agency of being more interested in getting new drugs to market than scrutinising their safety after the fact. “The FDA has let the American people down and, sadly, betrayed a public trust,” he told Congress in November. The FDA—which this week has been holding a marathon advisory committee meeting on the risks and benefits of Vioxx and other COX-2 inhibitors—faces further scrutiny as various congressional committees take up the issue of drug safety...........

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