Senators to Stall FDA Pick Over Contraception

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Democratic senators plan to block a vote on President Bush's pick to head the Food and Drug Administration over the agency's stalled decision on whether to allow a "morning-after" contraceptive to be sold over the counter, one of the lawmakers said on Wednesday.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state said after meeting with the nominee, Lester Crawford, that he had failed to reassure her and Sen. Hillary Clinton that the agency would make a definitive decision on whether to allow sales of Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Plan B without a prescription.

"We will be putting a hold on this nomination when it goes to the (Senate) floor until a decision is reached on Plan B ... any decision," Murray said. Sens. Clinton of New York and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts also participated in the meeting.

The senators said last month during a hearing with Crawford, who is currently acting FDA commissioner, they wanted answers from him before the Republican-led Senate held a vote on his nomination.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=8107925&src=rss/ElectionCoverage

[Kimber Scott]

1. I keep wondering where we're going to have to pick up our burkas?

Walmart, I guess.

[wicket]

2. nah, burkas make it too hard to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen

:mad:

[Kimber Scott]

3. Not from what I've seen. nt

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Good one! nt

[CAcyclist]

5. I am a veterinarian but I still have a hard time accepting

that the head of the FDA can be a veterinarian. There was an interesting article in DVM magazine - an interview with Crawford. I'll have to dig that up.

[dflprincess]

6. Oh, I don't know

Maybe veternarians are sometimes ahead of MDs. The vet my sister-in-law takes her dogs to encouraged her to spread the new puppy's vaccinations out over a longer period. He said recent literature expresses some concern about overloading their immune systems with too many shots at one time (and, to show he was sincere, he did not add the office visit charge to the bill when the pup went in for 2 extra visits for his shots.) You don't see many MDs worrying about what too many shots in one day might do to human babies.

[CottonBear]

7. Tip: Crawford completed his PhD in Pharmacy (UGA) without

taking any upper level graduate level biochemistry coursework.

He is a political hack. Came and went from UGA's vet school in between political appintments and getting an advanced degree from UGA in pharmacology.

I know this for a fact. He is a RW hack.

[CottonBear]

8. He is also a pharmacist.

Google it. UGA School of Phamacy.

[w4rma]

11. Which basically means he is licensed to weigh pills. Big deal.

He still has no understanding of the science and is a political hack.

[CottonBear]

13. See my post #7.

Pharmacists are professional scientists. Unfortunately, Crawford is a poorly trained pharmacist.

He is not at all well-respected by his peers in academia.

[CAcyclist]

15. My mistake. But here's the paragraph in DVM mag

I thought his pharmacy degree was a veterinary pharmacy degree, not a regular one, so I am mistaken about that. I still think he's a political hack. The below paragraph illustrates to me that the FDA is too involved with industry helping them get drugs ready for approval . That shouldn't be the focus of the FDA - it clearly creates a conflict of interest.

http://dvm.adv100.com/dvm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=144595

User fees
There was a time in the 1980s, Crawford recalls, that saw far fewer products making their way through FDA to market.

"One year, we saw no new veterinary and only four human new molecular entities. If there was a person with a rare disease that could later be treated with some pharmaceutical or an animal population that need special therapy, they could forget it in the United States. It was a period of time that FDA was very conservative and afraid of being too cozy with the industry."

In 1993, human medicine adopted user fees as a mechanism to spur drug approvals. Congress has approved similar legislation for FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, dubbed the Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA), which ultimately will allow CVM to hire 60 new people to review drugs.

Crawford says he originally was opposed to user fees because he thought they might be a conflict of interest, but he's a believer now. The concept gets money into FDA for specific review.

He says it also allows the agency to prepare for new chemicals coming through the research and development pipeline.

"We used to hear things about a new generation of antibiotics coming. But we didn't dare ask industry because that would be a conflict of interest. So we hung around here with the same old tired collection of personnel; there are too few of us and (we're) too inexperienced. And then along came this whole new set of drugs that we were not ready for, nor did we have expertise in. Now we sort of know what is coming, and we can plan for it. I think ADUFA and its descendants have been very good for FDA and good for the country."

[renaissanceguy]

9. Good for them, esp. Clinton.

I'm glad to see she's at the forefront of this, considering her pandering to antichoicers lately.


http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.20383992

[rodeodance]

10. good for them. The FDA has had many delays on this issue-all blanently

POLITICAL!!

[Gloria]

12. This is what I like to see......meanwhile, Lieberman has

"no opinion" on the "nuclear option" threatend by Frist on the filibuster voting method. "no opinion" on the last thread of checks and balances left on judicial appts. I'm calling his office tomorrow on this..

[Patiod]

14. You're all aware contraceptive pills work in an emergency?

Yes, emergency contraception is easier then convincing a friend to give you hers (and then she has to go get another pack earlier then planned). But I'd like to see it a little better known that plain old regular birth control pills will do in a pinch, or if your local pharmacist turns out to be some sort of religious maniac.

http://www.fwhc.org/birth-control/ecinfo.htm