Just about every year, when the Food and Drug Administration issues its enforcement statistics, interpreters everywhere struggle with the same issue: What can one conclude from these numbers? Easy enough to look at the numbers, as we do this time for fiscal year 2011 in comparison to years previous. But determining how to read these particular tea leaves to tell industry's fortune, that's harder. My own view is this: When numbers are generally up, it's a comfortable conclusion that FDA's getting "tougher." Kind of. When down, less tough, kind of. Depends which numbers, and depends on why they are up or down.
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