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Califf’s New Spin On US FDA Staffing: Attrition Rate Is Too Low

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

Commissioner also talks drug shortages, difficulty getting key agency and industry priorities done in new pandemic legislation, and how legal challenges to FDA authority could impact pharma companies desire to develop new medicines.

Front of FDA headquarters
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf discussed a range of regulatory issues at BIO 2023 • Source: Shutterstock/Tada Images

An extremely low attrition rate is not necessarily positive for a scientific organization that benefits from new ways of thinking, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf argued recently, putting a more positive spin on the agency’s hiring and retention challenges which are often thought of as something like a chronic illness for the FDA.

Key Takeaways
  • Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and data science and computer science are key hiring concerns for FDA Commissioner Califf.

“I think the employee situation at the FDA is frequently said [that]the attrition rate is high and we have trouble...

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