Making Sense of FDA’s Expedited Drug Approval Pathways and Designations – for the Non-Regulatory Professional

One of the fundamental responsibilities of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is to approve effective medicines for people who need them, while upholding high standards for safety. That mission also demands that the FDA work efficiently and not delay approval of life-saving medical advances. Today, the FDA is reviewing applications for approval of…

Implications of ICMJE’s Data Sharing Proposal

On January 20, members of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) announced a proposal that would require the authors of clinical trial publications to share the deidentified individual patient data that support their published results within 6 months of publication. Announced in an editorial published simultaneously in multiple medical journals, this proposal is…

President Obama’s Cancer Moonshot 2020 Initiative: How Big Is the Challenge?

When President Obama’s White House Task Force meets for the first time this week, it faces a lofty charge: “Let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.” His proposed Cancer Moonshot 2020 initiative will provide much needed funding for research, will encourage collaboration between industry and academia, and will undoubtedly lead…