Plans by U.S. regulators to release preliminary information about potential drug side effects could lead to unnecessary confusion and “irrational fears” about medicines, drug makers said on Monday. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a “Drug Watch” Web page that would list drug safety concerns that are being evaluated by the agency. The drug industry’s U.S. lobbying group said the information the FDA was aiming to publicize “is too vague and preliminary to be of any value in making informed treatment and prescribing decisions.” “Such information is ... not likely to accomplish anything other than confusion among physicians and the public and creation of irrational fears about the safety of drugs on the list,” the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America(PhRMA) said in written comments to the FDA. Releasing early information may violate a law requiring data released by federal agencies to be useful, PhRMA argued. It also said the plan may exceed the FDA’s authority.
