Think globally, protect locally: A conversation with Mark McClellan

Departing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Mark McClellan outlines the major initiatives of his sixteen-month tenure at the agency, including an expanded role for economic analysis in FDA policy, steps to promote "e-prescribing" and other information technologies, broadened use of external advisory panels to reduce political conflict between the agency and its various stakeholders, and an uncompromising stance against allowing U.S. citizens to reimport drugs from foreign sources. McClellan's policy interests and positions at the FDA may offer some insight into his approach to future policy positions at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.