The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board ripped a pair of Trump administration officials in a new editorial on Monday over their efforts to kill a drug that treats melanoma.
"Our editorials criticizing the Food and Drug Administration for torpedoing promising treatments must be hitting an intracranial nerve," the editorial reads in part. "Proof of their potency: Commissioner Marty Makary and his deputy Vinay Prasad devoted much of a recent FDA podcast to mischaracterizing them."
"We’re flattered by the attention, but the spin doctors cried fake news rather than address the substantive arguments," the editorial continues. "If they really want to prove they’re not impeding life-saving treatments, they’ll approve Replimune’s RP1 immunotherapy for metastatic melanoma, which the agency rejected this summer."
The editors also argued that Makary's "mischaracterization" of their stance shows he won't accept responsibility for his actions.
"The RP1 rejection reflects FDA dysfunction and poor judgment. It has added to the uncertainty about the agency’s standards for approval," the editorial continues. "Krystal Biotech recently cited the rejection in explaining its decision to halt the development of a melanoma drug. Replimune says the FDA has accepted its reapplication for RP1 approval with more data."
"The FDA leaders now have a mulligan if they have the courage to correct their mistake that will cost the lives of cancer patients," it adds.