Hamburg sees Zicam action as "good outcome"

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg views the 2009 removal of intranasal zinc-containing Zicam products from store shelves as a good example of how the agency is more prevention-focused. After FDA learned of more than 130 cases of anosmia associated with the Matrixx Initiatives products, the agency "warned consumers not to use these products and the manufacturer removed them from the shelves a week later," Hamburg said Feb. 8 at the National Health Policy Conference in Washington. "This was a good outcome," she said, adding that in the past, FDA "found itself engaging in back-and-forths with companies and with lawyers while serious health and safety problems remained in limbo." Matrixx recently sued FDA for information about the call for removal of its top-selling Zicam products (1"The Tan Sheet" Feb. 1, 2010)