Ketek subpoenas

Frustrated by FDA foot-dragging, House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee members vote 12-0, Jan. 31, to compel testimony from three FDA criminal investigators and a clinical research assistant involved with a controversial safety study for Sanofi-Aventis' Ketek (telithromycin). The four are expected to testify Feb. 12 as the panel continues its bipartisan probe into how FDA officials reviewed the ketolide antibiotic (1"The Pink Sheet" April 23, 2007, In Brief). A briefing book and documents used to prepare FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach for a March 22, 2007 hearing on Ketek also is the subject of a subpoena...