FDA: Whistleblower Won’t Have To Resign

      A Food and Drug Administration employee who criticized the agency's drug-approval process in a letter to the Washington Post will not lose his job. Today's Post reports that the "budding political flap" over Dr. Robert Misbin's allegations "came to a peaceful conclusion yesterday with a quiet apology and a recognition that even federal workers have a right to speak out on the letters pages of the local newspaper." After his letter appeared, Misbin said a superior requested his resignation. "By yesterday, however, all was back to normal," as the Post reports that Misbin "was assured" that "[l]etter writing is not a punishable offense" (Weiss, 8/26). In his letter, Misbin criticized the FDA for not adequately guarding the safety of human volunteers in clinical trials, and he contended that the agency is too closely aligned with pharmaceutical companies when it comes to approving new drug therapies.