A Little Knowledge: The FDA's Public Approach to Safety

The FDA's loudest critics on the safety issue have changed how FDA works-particularly in its far more public sharing of risk information. In a series of four interviews with FDA experts we explore the implications of these and other changes to the FDA's approach to safety. But one summary point: instead of trying to defend its record against an ever-increasing safety standard, the FDA--and some companies, too--are trying to teach consumers that all drugs have risks by informing them directly and frequently and thereby inoculate them against the more extreme requirements of the product-safety lobby.