120 years of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Given the anniversary of the FDA I decided to trawl through the gallery of FDA history, these are a few of my favourite images.
This Squibb employee is surrounded by efficacy data in the mid-1960s, soon to be forwarded for review by scientists impanelled by the National Academy of Sciences to review all drugs introduced between 1938 and 1962.
Drug Division Chief Dr. Theodore Klumpp addresses division staff around 1940. One of the drugs depicted on the chalkboard, aminopyrine, was among the first designated by FDA for prescription only status in 1938.
Chemist Lee Geismar inspects new drug applications (NDA) in the 1960s. Mandated under the pre-market safety provisions of the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, NDAs grew substantially after the 1962 Drug Amendments required proof of effectiveness as well as safety.
FDA inspectors conducted undercover operations to interdict illegal sales of amphetamines and barbiturates, especially in the trucking industry. Seen here are William Hill (left) and Charles Eisenberg in the mid-1950s.
FDA medical officer Grant Williams, M. D., speaks from the podium at an early 1990s meeting of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee.
