The Senate has spent the day on a must-pass FDA bill that reauthorizes a user fee from drug companies to finance FDA operations, in addition to making other changes to how the FDA deals with drug shortages. The bill is primed for passage in the House, so if it can get through the Senate without [...]

You can pretty well judge priorities in Washington simply by a matter of speed. If issues sit out there forever without being addressed, the political powers that be don’t really care about them. If they get attended to right away, they must have a certain importance attached. And this isn’t about lip service, but follow-through. [...]

I think you have to look at this new FDA announcement, that they will seek “voluntary” limits for antibiotics in animal feed, must be seen in a few different contexts. First, here’s Ezra Klein convincing me about the importance of this issue: This might not seem like a huge deal to you. But it is. [...]

Gardiner Harris paints a very one-sided picture of an FDA desiring to use its regulatory power and a White House dedicated to constraining them. When you look at the results, however, either some FDA officials are trying to tell their side of the story, or the article is dead-on about the White House’s love affair [...]

Let’s update that federal court hearing on the age restrictions of the morning-after pill. Judge Edward Korman heard arguments yesterday, and while he did not take action against the FDA, he did move the case forward: A federal judge Tuesday rejected a request to hold the Food and Drug Administration in contempt of court over [...]

Though the FDA supported it, the Department of Health and Human Services decided against allowing young teens access to the morning after pill in over-the-counter drugstores without a prescription. Though birth control is now available for free from doctors for anyone with health insurance, women under 17 facing an unplanned pregnancy will still have to [...]

In the latest in a flurry of executive actions, the Obama Administration has directed the FDA and the Justice Department to reduce shortages in prescription drugs, a growing problem over the last decade. The order is being sold as part of the Administration’s “We Can’t Wait” campaign to push economic actions in the midst of [...]

One of the policy items you hear the Administration tout as part of defending their record is the food safety bill. Food policy experts considered it flawed, but generally a step in the right direction, and the first overhaul of the nation’s food safety system in decades. There’s every reason for the White House to [...]

Time to mix in a good news story. A few weeks back, the Food and Drug Administration gave exclusive rights for a pregancy drug named Makena that prevented premature births to KV Pharmaceuticals. They promptly raised the price for Makena, which needs to be injected weekly between 16 and 36 weeks of pregnancy, from $10 [...]

OK, I’m tired of slagging on the Cat Food Commission (have I mentioned you should visit our new mini-site?), so let’s step away for a second. In somewhat better news, I’m surprised to see these extremely graphic cigarette warnings to be placed on all packages and advertising. Federal health officials Wednesday unveiled plans to require [...]

You can’t get much more subtle than this step to “fundamentally transform America,” but I’d submit that things like this have a bigger impact than you think: The Obama administration is proposing to give automobiles a letter grade ranging from “A” to “D” based on their fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions. The proposal comes [...]