BioCentury
ARTICLE | Politics & Policy

DOJ death penalty opinion could hobble FDA oversight of countermeasures, street drugs

May 15, 2019 2:23 PM UTC

In a decision that could inadvertently support legal challenges to FDA’s ability to block imports of unapproved recreational drugs and possibly to challenges to the regulation of biological and chemical weapons countermeasures, the U.S. Department of Justice said late Monday the agency lacks jurisdiction over death penalty drugs.

The opinion is a sharp departure from FDA policy precedents, including actions taken in the Obama and Trump administrations, and clashes with a federal court order. ...