NCHR’s Testimony to FDA on Lorcaserin Hydrochloride (BELVIQ)

June 8, 2022. FDA announced that the risks of BELVIQ outweigh any potential benefits and withdrew the drug “from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness” in March 2021 and yet, this drug has not been added to the “Withdrawn or Removed List”. Delaying the inclusion of unsafe drug products poses an entirely avoidable risk for patients. An inclusion on the list at the same time as the product is withdrawn from the market is necessary to protect the public health.

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NCHR Comments on Quality System Regulation Amendments for Medical Devices

May 24, 2022. We recognize that the proposed harmonization with international consensus standard for devices would allow companies to have a single quality management system. However, the proposal ignores several issues of great importance to patients and consumers, and these issues deserve more attention as FDA considers changes to the proposed rule.

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NCHR Comments on Hormone Therapy in Postmenopausal Women for the Primary Prevention of Chronic Conditions

May 16, 2022. The currently available evidence on hormone therapy is very clear: Whether combination therapies of estrogen and progestin or treatments with estrogen alone, the risks by far outweigh the limited benefits for postmenopausal women. We thus strongly support USPSTF’s “D” grade recommendation against the use of combined estrogen and progestin for the primary prevention of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, types of cancer, and osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal persons, as well as the “D” grade recommendation against the use of estrogen alone in postmenopausal persons who have had a hysterectomy.

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