WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- New drug safety measures have been announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Washington.
The FDA said that further steps would be taken to verify that marketed drugs are as safe as their manufacturers claim, including the creation of a program designed to assess drug safety 18 months after introduction to U.S. consumers, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The organization said it would also create a new advisory panel charged with improving the FDA's methods of announcing safety concerns and a program co-run by the Veterans Health Administration to track the effect of a drug on actual patients.
The move follows the withdrawal of the arthritis drug Vioxx from the market in 2004 after its manufacturer, Merck, discovered it doubled the risk of heart attacks in patients, and the revelation that some teenagers are led to thoughts of suicide by antidepressants.
"We don't see this as the only answer," said FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach. "It's merely a step as we continue a process of improvement that will be ongoing."
