FDA Receives High Marks

A Harris Interactive poll of 2245 adults found that a majority of Americans believe that the FDA is doing a good job of providing safe and effective medicines. The results of the survey were as follows:

• 56% of the respondents rated the FDA's performance excellent, compared with 37% who described it as fair or poor
• 69% of the respondents thought that it was more important to be able to afford drugs even if they are not the newest drugs available, compared with 21% who said that they wanted access to new and better drugs, regardless of price
• A slightly higher number of seniors 65 years or older preferred affordable drugs, even if they are not the newest medicines