The Wall Street Journal's War on Cancer

The Wall Street Journal this morning continued its war on the Food and Drug Administration's oncology drugs division, which is headed by Richard Pazdur. Pazdur has been attempting to hold the line on standards for new drug approvals against the howls of the Journal and the drug industry-funded Center for Medical Progress at the Manhattan Institute. Their goal is to throw out the FDA's efficacy requirement, which has been in place since the Thalidomide scare in the early 1960s.

Ironically, today's editorial lambasts the FDA for postponing appoval of Revlimid, a chemical cousin of thalidomide for a rare blood disease. An FDA advisory committee voted in favor of the drug a few weeks back. Never once in the editorial does the Journal mention the reason for Pazdur's and the FDA's so far very brief delay. They're awaiting a plan from Celgene, the drug's manufacturer, that insures that pregnant mothers, young children and others susceptible to drug-induced genetic mutations don't get acccidentally exposed to the drug.