US public confidence in the FDA plunges, new drug oversight a priority, survey finds

A large section of the US public has lost confidence in the Food and Drug Administration's ability to fulfil its tasks, according to the latest edition of a regular survey by Harris Interactive. Barely one in four people (26%) trust the federal agency to do a good job of ensuring the safety of prescription drugs that are manufactured outside the USA. The extent of public dissatisfaction with the performance of the FDA is evident across all areas of its work. In the case of pharmaceutical products, the opinion pollster argues that the ongoing heparin contamination fiasco (Marketletters passim) has, without doubt, contributed to the negative public perception.

The first part of the Harris Interactive survey concerned the public's rating of the FDA in terms of its effectiveness. On ensuring the safety as well as the efficacy of new prescription drugs, the share of the public taking a positive view has shown considerable fickleness: 56% in 2004, dropping to 36% in 2006, recovering to 45% in 2007, before dipping again to 35% in the current year. The unfavorable view of the agency over the same period matched the trend, with similar rises to coincide with loss of confidence. A high of 58% negative views of the FDA was reached in 2006 and again in 2008.

Most worrying for the drug regulators must be that this broadly negative, but volatile, public perception is accompanied by the overwhelming sense that new drug safety and efficacy is the most important task for the FDA. Fully 61% of respondents selected this function as the core of the FDA's reason for existing. By contrast, only 14% chose the second highest-ranking option.