Despite warnings, US FDA approves potent new opioid painkiller

This is just incredible really depressing:

In an email, an FDA spokesman wrote that drug safety committee members "could not attend due to scheduling conflicts."

"That's not the full story," Brown says.

On Wednesday, ahead of the FDA's final decision, four U.S. senators — Ed Markey, Claire McCaskill, Joe Manchin and Richard Blumenthal — sent a letter to Gottlieb, the FDA's commissioner, echoing concerns from Brown and Public Citizen and asking the agency to deny approval to Dsuvia until Brown and the full drug safety committee were allowed to participate.

Ultimately, the FDA approved the drug anyway.

"There should never again be a meeting on opioids that doesn't include drug safety," says Wolfe. "The FDA really screwed up."