US FDA should to strengthen oversight of criminal and misconduct investigations, says critical GAO report

The US Food and Drug Administration came in for criticism from the Government Accountability Office, which last week issued a report saying that the agency is not fulfilling its oversight obligation regarding its Office of Criminal Investigation. The report is the result of a review called for in 2009 by Senator Charles Grassley (Republican, Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance.

To improve oversight of its investigations, the GAO recommends that the FDA regularly monitors the OCI, and establishes a process to monitor the Office of Internal Affairs for compliance with its investigative policies. The GAO also recommends that that the FDA should establish performance measures for the OCI to assess whether it is achieving its desired results.

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