Inside the FDA: The Business and Politics Behind the Drugs We Take and the Food We Eat

Praise for INSIDE THE FDA

"A clear–eyed, thoughtful look at an agency that regulates a quarter of the U.S. economy and, more than any other, has the safety of the American public in its hands. Inside the FDA makes plain how powerful and controversial the Food and Drug Administration has become. People seeking to understand the government′s role in health care and the biotech revolution would be wise to read Ms. Hawthorne′s book."
Elizabeth MacBride Health–care writer and former managing editor of Crain′s New York Business

"Controversy lives on the FDA′s doorstep, and it knocks loudly as it did recently with Vioxx when a drug it approves is involved in consumer deaths. Fran Hawthorne has written a vivid and compelling account of the pressures from politicians, industry, and consumers; the scientific uncertainties; the risk–reward compromises; and the constantly changing legal landscape that influences the agency′s life–and–death decisions. Since these pressures are not likely to diminish, it is all but inevitable that another Vioxx will slip past the scientists of this powerful, public–spirited but imperfect institution."
Clem Morgello Former senior editor and columnist at Newsweek, and former senior editor at Dun′s Review

Praise for THE MERCK DRUGGERNAUT

"[Hawthorne] understands and communicates the incredible complexity of discovering new drugs and introducing them to the market."
The New York Times