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Fda Drug Review Essay

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In the article “The Political Economy of FDA Drug Review: Processing, Politics and Lessons for Policy”, the author Daniel P.Carpenter discusses different aspects of the FDA’s drug processing system and the political effects that can alter the routes and outcomes of that process. The role of the FDA is often thought to be mainly focused on protecting the public from non-efficient drugs and that that is the reason behind its popularity. However, the article points out how this role is actually more focused on protecting the FDA’s own reputation; as a long-time FDA observer said, “The FDA is very responsive to what I would call ‘opinion leaders’ in the scientific and medical communities. It cares very much about what these people think as to how the agency is doing”. It is rather surprising and makes complete sense at the same time. I believe because the public often saw the FDA as a heroic agency that shielded them from harmful drugs with no concern of the outcomes. But this vision would certainly vanish if the …show more content…

This formed trade-off leads the FDA to unpleasant consequences which is why it’s important for them to collect information, about the drug and the political parties involved, that can help determine when to reject or accept a reviewed drug. In addition to that, delaying an approval can cause issues with the political parties involved in the drug or the specific disease. With new drug application (NDA), it gets a bit tricky. First, if an NDA for a disease with very few to no recent drugs being developed was reviewed, it would be hard to refuse it due to possible political consequences. Second, the FDA puts its reputation at risk everytime an NDA is being reviewed and possibly approved. Furthermore, the decision for a drug is based on three important characteristics: inherent uncertainty, asymmetric observability of error, and low reputational

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