Kessler's legacy: unfinished reform
Stone, R.; Kessler, D.
Science 274(5293): 1603-1604
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 8984623 Document Number: 468341
Last week, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner David Kessler announced that he would step down as soon as his replacement is chosen and confirmed. During his six years as commissioner, Kessler campaigned to regulate nicotine as an addictive drug and to improve food labeling among other things, and he succeeded in lowering the time needed to approve new drugs. At a time when FDA's $190 million research portfolio is under scrutiny by Congress, Kessler's replacement will have to find new ways to show why science is vital to a regulatory agency.