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Duke-Margolis Paper Details Strategies to Treat COVID-19

 March 20, 2020

Efficiently launching medical products to combat the current and future outbreaks of COVID-19 requires supporting the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) work with manufacturers that have high potential to develop and deliver needed diagnostics, therapeutics, and prophylactics, stated former FDA Commissioners Scott Gottlieb, MD and Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, professor of business and public policy, in a working paper issued today by the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy.

The co-authors call for FDA to establish two task forces: one focused rapid development of point of care (POC) diagnostics; the second focused on rapid development of effective therapeutics and prophylaxis. In addition, the commissioners urge the White House to accelerate steps on a nationwide COVID-19 surveillance partnership to support these efforts and help target further interventions.

The white paper details how the FDA could structure the recommended task forces as well as the goal of each entity. The paper also defines how establishing a public-private partnership can help to ensure more comprehensive national surveillance COVID-19 to prevent the current and possible future waves of infections.

Gottlieb is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and was Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration from 2017-19.  McClellan, who directs the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, was Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration from 2002-04.