The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was among the participants Wednesday in a University of Louisville town hall discussion of cancer research and treatmentFDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach (pictured below, on the left, with Sen. Mitch McConnell) says cancer researchers are making great strides in developing treatments and diagnostic tools for the disease, and he acknowledges that his agency has had difficulty keeping pace with those advances.
"The FDA of the 20th century is not equipped and prepared for the reality of the 21st century, so we're having to undergo rapid and radical change to keep up with the rapid and radical change in the world around us," he said.Dr. von Eschenbach, himself a cancer survivor, says at the FDA that change includes better technology in its laboratories to reduce the time needed to conduct clinical trials.
