Medication Safety Risks Often Found After FDA Approval, Study Shows

KEEPING OUR READERS INFORMED WITH THE LATEST NEWS UPDATES FROM THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. In “To Your Health,” the Washington Post (5/9, McGinley) reports a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that “almost a third of drugs cleared by the Food and Drug Administration pose safety risks that are identified only after their approval.” Researchers “reviewed 222 products approved between 2001 and 2010 and followed them through February of this year.” They found that for 32 percent of the medications evaluated, “the FDA took some kind of action to deal with safety issues that emerged after approval.” The median time for the FDA to either withdraw the drug or issue a boxed warning or safety communication was 4.2 years after the drug was approved. Fortune (5/9, Entis) reports that the study “found drugs that went through an accelerated approval process