By Daniel R. Matlis
According to a report issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the FDA suffers from a lack of clear regulatory authority, chronic under funding, organizational problems, and a scarcity of post-approval data about drugs’ risks and benefits.
The report, entitled “The Future of Drug Safety: Promoting and Protecting the Health of the Public”, was commissioned by the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services in response to the growing public concern with health risks posed by approved drugs. The Agency asked the IOM to convene a committee to assess the U.S. drug safety system and to make recommendations to improve risk assessment, surveillance, and the safe use of drugs.
“FDA has an enormous and complex mission — both to make innovative new drugs available to patients as quickly as possible and to assess the long-term risks and benefits of these products once they are on the market,” said Sheila Burke, chair of the committee that wrote the report. “We found an imbalance in the regulatory attention and resources available before and after approval. Staff and resources devoted to pre-approval functions are substantially greater. Regulatory authority that is well-defined and robust before approval diminishes after a drug is introduced to the market. Few high-quality studies are conducted after approval, and the data are generally quite limited. Many of the report’s recommendations are intended to bring the strengths of the pre-approval process to the post-approval process, to ensure ongoing attention to medications’ risks and benefits for as long as the products are in use.”
During its research, the committee found that
- There is a perception of crisis that has compromised the credibility of FDA and of the pharmaceutical industry.
- Most stakeholders–the agency, the industry, consumer organizations, Congress, professional societies, health care entities–appear to agree on the need for certain improvements in the system.
- The drug safety system is impaired by the following factors: serious resource constraints that weaken the quality and quantity of the science that is brought to bear on drug safety; an organizational culture in CDER that is not optimally functional; and unclear and insufficient regulatory authorities particularly with respect to enforcement.
- FDA and the pharmaceutical industry do not consistently demonstrate accountability and transparency to the public by communicating safety concerns in a timely and effective fashion.
To address these issues, the report offers a broad set of recommendations to ensure that consideration of safety extends from before product approval through the entire time the product is marketed and used.
These recommendations include:
- Labeling requirements and advertising limits for new medications
- Clarified authority and additional enforcement tools for the agency
- Clarification of FDA’s role in gathering and communicating additional information on marketed products’ risks and benefits
- Mandatory registration of clinical trial results to facilitate public access to drug safety information
- An increased role for FDA’s drug safety staff
- A large boost in funding and staffing for the agency
“We have already called for making sure the FDA has adequate resources to perform its critical drug review, surveillance and monitoring functions: said Caroline Loew, Senior Vice President of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), “Additionally, PhRMA supports recommendations for modernizing the post-market surveillance system for drugs, including more efficient use of the adverse reaction reporting system; maximizing use of large health care data bases; and building more expertise around epidemiological studies.”
I agree that the FDA and Industry need to do a better job monitoring medications’ risk-benefit profiles after approval. They must also improve communications to healthcare providers and patients on the uncertainties and potential risks associated with newly introduced drugs.
However, as patients, we must recognize that there are no “risk free medicines”. Each patient must work with their healthcare provider to evaluate the risk-benefit profile associated with each recommended therapy and make an informed decision based on the facts available at that time. We must also remain vigilant and be ready to reassess those choices when new post approval data becomes available.
After all, our health is our responsibility.