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Time For Independent FDA? COVID-19 Political Pressure Reignites Debate

 
• By Kate Rawson

The political spotlight on the Food & Drug Administration during the COVID-19 pandemic has renewed the long-standing debate as to whether FDA should be made an independent, Cabinet-level federal agency and freed from direct HHS oversight.

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Will there be renewed momentum to make the FDA independent of HHS as a result of the pandemic? • Source: File photo

The argument for an independent FDA has taken on renewed interest as President Trump has applied political pressure on the agency (via Twitter and elsewhere), most notably to claim a vaccine approval before Election Day. FDA’s ability to remain independent was a topic of discussion of a panel of five former chief counsels and current Office of Chief Counsel Chief Deputy Elizabeth Dickinson during the Food & Drug Law Institute’s annual meeting 7 October.

The FDLI panel did not come to any clear consensus on the question, with some former chief counsels arguing that FDA’s status as a science-based agency already renders it largely independent and pointing to the benefits of being able to coordinate with sister agencies within the common framework of HHS

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