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.

3D printer
3D printer
Article

3D Printing of Medical Equipment Is Only a Stopgap

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Article

For the past several months, the COVID-19 pandemic has placed unique pressure on the U.S. health care system and led to significant spikes in demand for hospital beds, personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers, and other essential medical products. At the same time, the public health emergency has had a significant impact on the global supply chain.

Supplements
Supplements
Article

Better Tools Are Needed 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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