At Friends meeting, Pazdur, Woodcock lament FDA’s failure to protect the agency staff from political interference, warn of “lasting implications”

Richard Pazdur, former director of the FDA Oncology Center of Excellence, and Ellen Sigal, chairperson and founder of Friends of Cancer Research, at the Friends “Modernizing Oncology Endpoints: Pathways for Evidence and Policy” meeting Feb. 5.Credit: Friends of Cancer Research

For decades, FDA commissioners sought to insulate the agency’s professional staff from political interference with regulatory decisions.