FDA Chief Touts Data Revamp to Resist Pressure, Misinformation

Commissioner Robert M. Califf is pushing the FDA to generate more robust data to defend its decisions following the release of a congressional report detailing attempts by top Trump administration officials to influence the agency’s pandemic response.

Federal regulators “open the door for political or financially driven meddling when we don’t have the highest quality evidence for decision-making,” Califf said in virtual remarks Sunday evening at the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society’s annual conference in Phoenix.

He specifically cited an Aug. 24 report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which found in part that Trump White House officials ...