US Food and Drug Administration to create drug safety oversight panel

WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (AFP) - The US Food and Drug Administration will create an independent oversight panel to monitor the safety of drugs currently on the market, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt announced Tuesday.
The panel of medical experts will be charged with evaluating and disseminating information about emerging risks and benefits of drugs already on the market, the FDA said in a statement.
The creation of the panel is part of "a new culture of openness and enhanced independence" at the agency, Leavitt said. Citizens "want to know what we know, what we do with information and why we do it," he said.
The panel's creation comes at a time when the FDA has been sharply criticized for being too slow to react to new risks related to existing drugs, particularly related to the anti-inflammatory drugs Vioxx and Celebrex and the increased risks of heart attacks.
Several influential lawmakers have criticized the FDA as being too close to the interests of drugmakers to be able to guarantee an independence of judgment when newly discovered risks require a decision on whether to keep an existing drug on the market.

02/16/2005 00:31 GMT - AFP