GROUP MOVES TO SUBPOENA WHITE HOUSE IN PLAN B CASE
Tomorrow activists will seek permission in federal court to gain access to White House documents and to depose a former administration adviser concerning the controversial contraceptive Plan B to determine whether the White House interfered in the FDA's decisionmaking on the drug.
The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) will request Sept. 29 that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York allow the group access to White House documents regarding Barr's Plan B (levonorgestrel). The group will also seek permission to depose Jay Lefkowitz, a former administration domestic policy adviser, about his discussions with then-FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan about the drug.
The group wants to speak with Lefkowitz to determine whether there was an April 21, 2003, conference call with McClellan to discuss the Plan B application. The call was due to take place the same day that Barr, the drug's manufacturer, filed its OTC application.
This request springs from CRR's discovery that a high-ranking FDA official is alleged to have said that the White House directly influenced the agency's decision on Plan B.