I thought the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) job was to make sure prescription medications were safe and effective! If so, why it is such big news that the FDA says it plans to step up efforts to remove unapproved drugs from the market? An accelerated removal of unapproved drugs will apparently take place this year. The FDA’s action apparently came about as a result of an USA Today story which pointed out that many doctors and pharmacists are unaware that nearly 2% of the prescription drugs on the market have never been scrutinized by the agency.
Why doesn’t the FDA just ban all unapproved drugs?
For more stories on the FDA and its efforts:
· Questions and Answers About Unapproved Drugs
· FDA Continues to Tackle Unapproved Drugs