By Lisa Seachrist
Washington Editor
WASHINGTON ¿ Dietary supplements, biotech foods and Internet sales and marketing will be some of the areas the FDA will focus on during the next 12 months.
Speaking for FDA Commissioner Jane Henney, acting deputy commissioner and senior advisor for science Bernard Schwetz outlined the agency¿s direction at the 43rd Educational Conference of the Food and Drug Law Institute.
In light of an Institute of Medicine report detailing the extent of medical mistakes, Schwetz highlighted the agency¿s role in preventing medical mistakes: to conduct a scientific review of drugs and devices, to manage an appropriate risk-to-benefit ratio, to appropriately label products and to take quick action should the risk-to-benefit ratio change.
¿There are risks associated with medicines,¿ Schwetz said. ¿We cannot make these risks disappear, nor should we try.¿
The agency will work in 2000 to develop a regulatory scheme for the ever-increasing number of dietary supplements on the market. The FDA also will focus on issues concerning the boom in Internet sales and marketing of drugs.
In the wake of several grassroots meetings held around the country, the FDA will address its regulation of genetically modified foods. A number of groups have called for mandatory consultation with the agency and some sort of labeling scheme.
Finally, Schwetz said the agency would be examining the reuse of single-use medical devices.