Equitable Innovation
Racial and ethnic minorities needing medical care will enter sites of care and experience harm from biased medical technologies and interventions. Biases persist across the health innovation ecosystem with drugs, diagnostics, devices, algorithms, and care practices. FAS believes the federal government can play a critical role in correcting bias in technologies and incentivizing future processes for equitable innovation. FAS works to ensure the research and development process is open and fair, looks for ways to support market success for “equitable innovations”, and lifts up new health policy ideas from communities impacted by health inequities.
The incoming administration should work towards encouraging state health departments to develop clear and well-communicated data storage standards for newborn screening samples.
Improving public awareness of FDA Advisory Committees would improve public trust and deter misinformation related to the approval of medical products.
The absence of consistent voting privileges for patient representatives on Advisory Committees hinders representatives from providing an voice on behalf of the community they represent.
Internal disagreements present a growing concern about FDA leadership overruling the expert opinions of scientific staff and proceeding with official approvals, thus undermining staff expertise, decreasing agency morale, and potentially diminishing public trust.