FDA commissioner gets political: U.S. media

NEW YORK, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) works best when it stays out of the political fray, but Commissioner Robert Califf hasn't learned that lesson, reported The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

Last week, Califf joined the partisans piling on drug makers for charging allegedly excessive prices. "I think the prices of drugs are too high in the U.S.," Califf was quoted as saying during an interview at a conference hosted by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.

Although the FDA's job is to regulate drug safety and efficacy, not prices, he said "we're also part of the HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) family," which is charged with implementing the Inflation Reduction Act's sham drug price negotiations.

The FDA is also working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on a new policy to reduce Medicare payments for medicines that win accelerated approval. "That sounds common sense to me," the commissioner said. "Common sense would also suggest this policy will limit access to new drugs and the benefits of accelerated approvals," said the report.

Califf also drew a dubious link between the fact that the United States has higher drug prices and lower life expectancy than some other wealthy countries. "We're in last place in high-income countries in life expectancy and losing ground," he said. "So how can it be that we're creating all this stuff that the rest of the world uses, and they're doing so much better than we are?"

"Califf may be trying to deflect criticism from the left that the agency approves drugs that are costly, but his comments will surely feed suspicion that prices are influencing the FDA's approval decisions. Trust in public-health agencies declined during the pandemic, and Dr. Califf isn't helping to restore it," it added.