woman browsing vitamin bottles in a store
Project

Health Care Products

The Food and Drug Administration oversees a broad range of medical and consumer products. In fact, the agency estimates that the items it regulates account for 20 cents of each dollar Americans spend.

The Pew Charitable Trusts understands the tremendous impact these products have on public health. This project advances policies that will effectively protect consumers from dangerous products and reduce safety risks associated with new innovations in the marketplace. Pew’s current efforts focus on diagnostic tests, dietary supplements, over-the-counter drugs, and regenerative medicine.

Pile of pills
Pile of pills
Article

As Coronavirus Cases Rise, FDA Acts Against Businesses Selling Fraudulent Treatments

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Article

Millions of Americans have been staying home in recent weeks to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, a fast-moving disease for which there is currently no known cure and no vaccine.

Supplements
Supplements
Article

FDA Needs Better Tools From Congress to Monitor Dietary Supplement Safety

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Article

At a time when most Americans say they have taken dietary supplements, the Food and Drug Administration just does not have the tools to effectively ensure that these products are safe. In a recent survey, a majority of adults echoed this concern: 7 in 10 said they think the agency cannot protect consumers from harmful supplements.

In Vitro
In Vitro
Issue Brief

What Are In Vitro Diagnostic Tests, and How Are They Regulated?

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Issue Brief

Health care providers rely on a variety of tools to diagnose conditions and guide treatment decisions. Among the most common and widely used are <i>in vitro</i> diagnostics (IVDs), which are clinical tests that analyze samples taken from the human body. Patients may receive—or forgo—medical care based on diagnostic test results, making it critically important that tests are reliable.

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