The Role of the FDA
The Role of the FDA
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the federal agency responsible for making sure that new drugs and medical devices are safe and effective. No treatment is risk-free, but it is the FDA’s role to judge whether a new treatment’s benefits to the patient outweigh its risks. They oversee every phase of a clinical trial and decide if the evidence supports continued testing and, eventually, approval for doctors to prescribe the new treatment in this country.