* Signs Bill Giving FDA More Oversight of Drug Safety

[babylonsister]

Bush Signs Drug Safety Bill Into Law

By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, September 27, 2007

(09-27) 12:39 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday gained broad new powers to ensure the safety of prescription drugs used by millions of Americans under a bill President Bush signed into law.

At its core, the new law renews for five years programs to collect fees from drug and medical device manufacturers. The industry money accounts for about one-quarter of the FDA's overall budget, defraying the cost of reviewing products that need agency approval.

Members of Congress, acting in the wake of the withdrawal of the painkiller Vioxx three years ago, seized on the bipartisan legislation as a vehicle to reform the FDA's handling of drug safety.

In part, the legislation shifts more of the FDA's attention from experimental drugs pending approval to those already are on the market, and gives the agency more power to act when worrisome problems emerge.

more...

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/09/27/national/w104704D84.DTL&type=politics

[loves_dulcinea]

1. in other words,

* is undoing ROnnie Ray-gunz modifications.

funny how republickers are always talking about how "the experiment is over, it didn't work", when they seem to be the ones who are taking shitty risks.