The FDA can't get complacent

Former FDA commissioner Mark McClellan has some sage words of advice for the agency he used to helm: Don’t get stagnant.

McClellan, along with cancer patient advocate Ellen V. Sigal, opine that there are many changes the FDA can make in the new decade. Rather than simply accelerating approvals, for instance, a major priority should be on public health — and whether the new drugs are safer or providing better outcomes for patients.

The agency should continue to encourage public opinion on how it operates, McClellan writes, and should modernize how it collects and uses digital health data. The medical field is evolving rapidly these days, after all, and their thought is that regulators need to evolve just as quickly.