FDA Chief Called to Resign over Painkiller Crisis

There are calls for the head of the Food and Drug Administration to resign amid charges that the agency's policies have helped cause a a national epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse.

On Wednesday, more than a dozen anti-addiction groups called for the Obama administration to replace FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg.
    
"We are especially frustrated by the FDA's continued approval of new, dangerous, high-dose opioid analgesics that are fueling high rates of addiction and overdose deaths," the letter, addressed to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, said.
    
Deaths linked to addictive medications like oxycontin and vicodin have more than tripled over the last 20 years.

A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Human Services called opioid abuse "a serious issue" that the secretary is "focused on."

"Secretary Burwell appreciates hearing from stakeholders on the important issue of prescription opioid abuse, and looks forward to responding to their letter," HHS spokeswoman Tait Sye said in a statement.