Experts Question Effect of FDA's New Office of Integrity and Accountability

FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach's establishment of a new Office of Integrity and Accountability to address cultural issues within the agency might be a "nice" idea but is not necessary for accomplishing the FDA's mission, according to Peter Pitts, director of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI).

The initiative is just "placating critics on Capitol Hill" and could divert resources away from the FDA's mission, Pitts noted. It is wrong for politics to drive agency policy, Pitts said.

Von Eschenbach announced the creation of the new office during PhRMA's annual board meeting March 15.

However, CMPI Vice President Robert Goldberg said that the creation of the office was a good move for the FDA. "I think what von Eschenbach is trying to do is bring some order to the frat house."

"What he is doing, I think, with this office is giving people who have a grievance or feel that they've been side-stepped an opportunity to vent and formally present their case to the commissioner, instead of having it fester as some kind of internal squabble within the ranks." That's a smart idea, he added, "and the right thing to do, rather than taking it to Congress where the data and the claims go unfiltered right to the media."