As Advisers' Role Debated, FDA Chief Says Panels Can't Dictate Decisions

The role of FDA's advisory committees faces new debate, with FDA's commissioner, lawmakers and advisory committee members recently weighing in on various sides of the issue. FDA Commissioner Robert Califf recently told members of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine panel that advisory committees should not dictate what the agency decides because otherwise “politics will reign supreme and we want science to reign supreme wherever that's possible.” His remarks came days before a member of FDA's arthritis advisory...