To the Point

The FDA and Drug Safety

Another arthritis painkiller has been associated with cardiovascular risk for long-time users. It-s only one study-and Celebrex is still on the market-but the stock price of Pfizer, which makes Celebrex, is sharply down. When Merck pulled Vixoxx off the shelves, the Food and Drug Administration was attacked for failing to monitor drug performance. With billions at stake, are the regulators too cozy with the makers of drugs or do the media exaggerate the risks of side-effects, scaring people away from medications they need? We get several perspectives from doctors, academicians, pharmaceutical regulators, science journalists, public policy makers and a former official of the FDA. Making News: President Bush Signs the Intelligence Reform Bill President Bush today signed the sweeping overhaul of US intelligence advocated by the 9/11 Commission and the surviving families. Fifteen separate agencies will be part of a single command structure. The President called it historic. Walter Pincus, who reports on national security for the Washington Post, says the new Director of National Intelligence must have "extensive experience in national security expertise." Reporter's Notebook: The Tallest Bridge in the World A new bridge at Millau, in South-Central France, opened to auto traffic yesterday. Both a major engineering feat and a work of art, pictures show its graceful towers rising above the clouds as it spans a rugged landscape. It's 2.5 meters long and taller than the Eiffel Tower, but also subject to 90-mile-an- hour winds. While it was still under construction, Jonathan Glancy, architecture editor for Britain's Guardian newspaper, walked it from one end to the other.