Recent news
January 2012
FDA launches new blog
January 11, 2012--The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently launched a new blog, called FDAVoice. The blog will feature posts by FDA's senior leadership and staff stationed in the United States and abroad in an effort to share news, announcements, and other information about the work done at the FDA.
This week, Edward Cox, director of the Office of Antimicrobial Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, wrote a post about the agency’s pivotal role in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. He highlights the impressive work in drug development that has taken place over the last decade.
“When I joined FDA more than a decade ago, after having spent time as a fellow at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health and in private practice, I could not have imagined the unprecedented level of progress we’d see in the area of drug development for HIV/AIDS. The vast majority of these pivotal breakthroughs have occurred during the last decade and the development programs have often included clinical studies conducted outside of the US.”
Cox points out that while many people associate the FDA with domestic programs to help American citizens, the agency has actually played a critical role in advancing the global effort to battle HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and tuberculosis through work in programs like the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). As of the end of 2011, the FDA had approved more than 137 different formulations of drugs and fixed-dose combination products to treat HIV/AIDS.
“The success of the PEPFAR program is an excellent example of how science and interaction can quickly translate into meaningful progress for people living with HIV/AIDS,” Cox wrote.
The FDA is committed to continuing to work with partners around the globe to promote the development of new, low-cost treatments to help people living with HIV/AIDS.
