Statement of Dr. Diana Zuckerman, President
Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund
February 5, 2015
Commissioner Hamburg has been a strong voice for public health and her resignation is a major loss at a dangerous time for the FDA. The 21st Century Cures proposed legislation represents a frightening assault on the agency and the safety of medical products, and the FDA will need a very strong leader to protect its public health mission.
Many Members of Congress have been attacking the FDA nonstop for the last few years, criticizing FDA efforts to improve the safety of medical devices and to ensure the safety of pharmaceuticals, including those made by compounding pharmacies. Congress lacks the scientific expertise make appropriate judgments about how or whether the FDA can safely speed up its already efficient approval process, so recent Congressional efforts to do so would undermine patient safeguards even more. This has made the job of FDA Commissioner a thankless one, and at the same time made it more important than ever.