The FDA Under Pressure
Prognosis: Misconception
Bloomberg
4.1 • 838 Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2020
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This weekend, Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, attracted criticism when he substantially overstated the benefits of an experimental Covid-19 therapy. At a press conference with Trump, Hahn said that a treatment using blood plasma from recovered patients could save 35 of every 100 people who would have died. Those high-profile remarks were incorrect, and they were repeated by others in the Trump administration. Hahn late Monday clarified some of what the data on blood plasma actually show.
But the episode has raised questions about how the agency will review a vaccine, as well as its scientific independence. Senior Editor for Health Care Drew Armstrong spoke to Hahn about the agency’s role in an increasingly politicized federal virus response.
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| 0:33.7 | Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day 168 since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. |
| 0:44.2 | Today's main story, an FDA official made a high-profile misstatement about the efficacy of a COVID treatment this weekend. |
| 0:54.3 | Even after he backtracked, the episode has led many to wonder how independent the agency really is. |
| 1:03.7 | But first, here's what happened in virus news today. |
| 1:16.0 | Music virus news today. Wings, nuggets, eggs, no matter the form, Americans love their chicken. |
| 1:21.4 | The chicken industry is one of the largest and most complex supply chains that America |
| 1:25.5 | has. |
| 1:26.2 | These birds are big business, and we wanted to get |
| 1:29.0 | to the bottom of it. Welcome to Beat Capitalism, brought to you by oddlaws. In this special three-part |
| 1:34.9 | series from Bloomberg Podcasts, we are going to examine some of the thorniest issues facing the |
| 1:41.0 | U.S. economy through the medium of this humble bird. |
| 1:44.8 | Examine. Get it? So there's going to be chicken puns? |
| 1:47.7 | There are definitely going to be chicken puns. We're going to be asking why the chicken |
| 1:52.1 | industry has evolved the way that it has, and what does it say about the American economy |
| 1:57.1 | that so many consumers are flocking to poultry. There's another one for you. |
| 2:02.0 | Listen to Beat Capitalism from Odd Lots. Out now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your |
| 2:07.9 | podcasts. |
| 2:25.4 | Italy has ruled out, a new nationwide lockdown despite an increase in coronavirus cases. |
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