
CDER chief Janet Woodcock has a message for pharma: 'It’s not working, and it won’t work in the future'
At a time when the pharma industry’s rep has been scraping its way to the very bottom of the barrel with the US public, execs are also now in for some brutal criticism from the FDA’s powerful CDER chief, Janet Woodcock.
“I don’t want to bum everyone out,” Woodcock told a biopharma crowd late last week. “The science is fabulous, but that’s not enough.”
Speaking at the Breakthroughs in Medicine conference sponsored by The Los Angeles Times, Woodcock castigated a system that now offers extraordinary new meds — some of which can cure diseases — at prices that are far beyond the reach of many patients. And she targeted the current drug development process, accusing companies of putting a premium on secrecy — driving up the cost of research while steering clear of studying important aspects of the drug when there is no clear commercial gain to be had.
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