FDA Approves Drugs Illegally

Bush, FDA changed rules to benefit off-label drugs

McClatchy Tribune Full Story

As the Obama administration reviews all the midnight rules that the departing Bush administration issued, it will have to decide whether to try to modify or reverse this last-minute change in the FDA's oversight of off-label drug marketing.

Congressional leaders from both parties criticized the guideline when it was proposed last year. Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who has repeatedly investigated the FDA, said he had serious concerns about the proposal, which he said would deem appropriate something that "the FDA once considered evidence of unlawful marketing."