Previous year it approved 45 new drugs, the most since 1996.
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Sens. Markey and Manchin held an impassioned press conference Monday afternoon to press both Congress and President Barack Obama to more seriously consider the toll opioid addiction has taken throughout the country.
Under pressure from the Senate, Califf said earlier this month the agency would add new warning labels to the most widely prescribed painkillers and increasingly consult with outside advisers on the medications.
Markey was among the four Senators who voted against Califf. 24, 2016, to confirm Califf after a handful of Democrats delayed action in a protest over the agency’s inaction on the abuse of opioid painkillers.
“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit today granted an extraordinary emergency stay of a federal district court decision from late January which preliminarily blocked Louisiana’s Texas-style clinic shutdown law – meaning all but one provider of safe and legal abortion in the state will be forced to close”. Sanders expressed concerns with Califf’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry, while Markey said he wanted changes to the FDA’s approval process for opioid painkillers.
Before arriving at the FDA last September, Califf spent years at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, which, unlike most academic research institutions, gets 60% of its finances from industry, according to the Triangle Business Journal. Only six senators voted against it, though some advocacy groups still tried to rally opposition to the nomination ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
“Dr. Califf is the right person with the right experience to build on the FDA’s unsurpassed record of protecting public health while encouraging innovation and the introduction of new life-saving therapies to the market”.
“We need someone who will work to substantially lower drug prices, implement rules to safely import brand-name drugs from Canada and hold companies accountable who defraud our government”, Sanders said. Califf has said his research was never influenced by the funding. “He has made important contributions to the field of medicine and has the vision required to lead the FDA in its efforts to promote and protect public health”. Since her departure, FDA’s chief scientist Stephen Ostroff has been serving as acting commissioner.
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Besides food safety and labeling regulations, other tasks on Califf’s plate deal with regulations for tobacco and e-cigarettes, tackling the national prescription drug epidemic and approving new drugs for cancer and other diseases.
