Obama scraps discussion of FDA pre-emption over state tort law

US President Barack Obama appears to have altered the position of the Food and Drug Administration on the issue of federal regulatory  pre-emption over state tort law for pharmaceutical products. In January  this year, less than a week after the Democratic candidate was sworn in  as the 44th US President, the pre-publication version of a final rule  on over-the-counter internal analgesic, antipyretic and antirheumatic  drugs briefly appeared on the FDA's web site before being "quickly  removed," according to Kurt Karst, a partner with specialist law firm  Hyman, Phelps & McNamara.