FDA\'s CDER hires 633 new scientists

The USA\'s Food and Drug Administration has met its target of recruiting over 1,300 staff by the end of September, in a drive to increase the federal government agency\'s work force by about 10%. The present campaign was launched in April and is the result of extra funding provided to the FDA for better monitoring of food and pharmaceutical products following the renewal of industry user fee legislation (Marketletters passim).

Previously, the FDA has blamed understaffing and the loss of crucial people to the private sector for delays in reviewing drug applications. The agency\'s capacity to conduct inspections, which came under criticism over the contaminated heparin incidents earlier this year (Marketletters passim), should be improved with the appointment of large numbers of technically-qualified personnel.

The largest contingent of the new recruits, 633 people, is for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which assesses new agents and monitors the safety of pharmaceutical products already on the market. The food safety program will get 104. The enforcement division of the FDA gets 245 new personnel, after losing a large number of field officers in recent years.