50 Health Groups Protest Shutdown’s Impact on FDA

Officials of 50 healthcare groups representing patients, caregivers, healthcare providers, and researchers wrote 1/22 to President Trump and the leaders of both parties in the House and Senate to express “alarm at the continued government shutdown, particularly its impact on FDA.” The letter says the groups “are greatly concerned that the agency is not fully funded, and thousands of vital FDA employees are not working or able to operate at full capacity. While we applaud Commissioner Gottlieb, FDA leadership, and ‘essential staff’ for truly heroic work to keep many aspects of its mission functioning, we fear that this continued shutdown not only puts the current health and safety of Americans at risk, but has begun to put future scientific discovery and innovation in jeopardy.”

The groups ask that the president and Congress act immediately to bring FDA back to full capacity.