Nathan Vardi: I traveled down to Maryland and spent the day at the FDA

Nathan Vardi, Managing Editor, Enterprise at MarketWatch, shared on LinkedIn:

“Not long after my book, FOR BLOOD AND MONEY came out, I got a call from Rick Pazdur, the director of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, who invited me to talk to his group at the FDA. He said my book would be interesting for his staff because it provides a view of the drug-development process they don’t always see.

Normally, the regulators who make decisions on potential cancer-drug approvals mostly see the well-rehearsed and impeccably behaved biopharma employees who sit across the table from them at meetings. My reporting tried to take readers inside all aspects of cancer-drug development, especially what really happens at biotech companies working to get experimental cancer medicines to patients.

It took us a while to get our schedules ironed out, but last week I traveled down to Maryland and spent the day at the FDA. Rick was an incredible host and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting his colleagues at the FDA. Rick and his staff have forgotten more about oncology medicines than I will ever know, but they were genuinely interested in getting a different perspective on the world in which they spend most of their professional lives. I was impressed.

I had two meetings with the dedicated professionals at the FDA’s oncology center. I also participated in a conversation on cancer that was live-streamed here if you want to check it out.

For the video click here.
Source: Nathan Vardi/LinkedIn