At a Congressional hearing Tuesday, Democratic leaders declared that the FDA should get $300 million to inspect foreign manufacturers of drugs. It now gets $10 million. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said at the hearing that $250 million would be sufficient to do foreign inspections. In other words, it’s less than Congress’s number — but an admission the agency needs much, much more money than it’s getting.

But the Wall Street Journal’s Alicia Mundy reports that at a hearing yesterday Woodcock backed off on her statement. Perhaps someone reminded Woodcock that it’s impolitic to recognize regulatory agencies often don’t have the money to perform their mandate.  Read Mundy here.  MB

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