So far this year a more vigilant FDA has barred seven physicians from conducting medical research work. The actions equal the number of actions taken by the agency over the past three years.
The FDA has come under increasing pressure to take action against researchers accused of fraud. Critics have maintained that the agency often takes years before moving to bar a researcher from new studies. And one of the seven barred in the first half of this year was Maria Anne Kirkman Campbell, a researcher who admitted five years ago to research fraud in a Sanofi-Aventis study. An FDA spokesperson says the agency has adopted a new, tougher time line on such actions and is in the process of hiring new staffers to beef up enforcement.
- read the report in Pharmalot