Media Statement From Friends of Cancer Research

For further comment, please contact Friends Director of Science Policy, Dr. Jeff Allen at jallen@focr.org or (703)302-1597.

Washington D.C. - Today, January 30, 2007, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a formal response to the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) September 2006 report, The Future of Drug Safety:  Promoting and Protecting the Health of the Public.

Friends of Cancer Research (Friends), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has been working with leading research advocates, patient groups and expert academic clinicians in order to provide the cancer and greater medical research community’s perspective and recommendations on these and related issues designed to strengthen the FDA.

Friends Chair and Founder, Dr. Ellen Sigal commented on the FDA’s response saying, “We must be sure that FDA has the proper resources and personnel to fully integrate the science and technology that will ultimately lead to a systematic approach to safety surveillance.” She further explained, “Such a system is in the best interest of patients, the public, the FDA, as well as innovators of new products.” Dr. Sigal additionally emphasized, “It is our utmost concern that upcoming legislation not only improves drug safety, but also allows responsible new drug access to patients and ensures that the innovative product development pipeline continues to grow.”

The 2006 IOM Report presented recommendations to improve risk assessment, surveillance, and safe use of approved drugs.  After a great deal of review of the IOM recommendations, the FDA response being issued today addresses three themes:  strengthening the science that supports our drug product safety system, improving communication and information flows, and improving operations and management.  Additionally, the response includes descriptions of new, recently initiated programs that are designed to address the recommendations.

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Over the past ten years, Friends of Cancer Research (Friends), a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, has pioneered innovative public-private partnerships, organized critical policy forums, educated the public, and brought together key communities to develop collaborative strategies in the field of cancer research.  Through these efforts, Friends continues its mission in raising awareness on the importance of cancer research to accelerate the progress toward better tools for the prevention, detection, and treatment of all cancers.