The Food and Drug Administration issued its annual report on pharmaceutical industry post-marketing. According to the new figures, drug companies have started only about 35 percent of the studies that they have agreed to conduct. The FDA grants fast track approval in some situations if drug makers pledge to conduct studies after new products go on the market. Critics argue that the industry does not take the obligation seriously, with the result that patient safety is often compromised. "This new information is an embarrassing continuation of similar reports," argues Harvard's Jeffery Avorn, a frequent industry critic and author of the recent Powerful Medicines.
- see this article from the Washington Post