FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety and efficacy of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, and medical devices; assuring the safety of our Nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation; and regulating the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products.
Sound science underlies all that the agency does. Access to reliable scientific and technological information is central to FDA's mission and the agency's regulatory efforts. FDA must rely on the best available science to make difficult decisions with respect to FDA-regulated products. In making those decisions, an unbiased presentation and full analysis of the relevant scientific data, including its uncertainties, is absolutely critical. Establishing and maintaining the integrity of the scientific process and of scientific data is crucial to the agency's ability to arrive at sound decisions and to maintain public trust.
Public access to the results of FDA-funded scientific research furthers the agency's public health mission. The broad availability of scientific information and underlying data allows for the critical review, replication, and verification of findings that are central to the scientific method. Making research findings and the digital data supporting those findings accessible and analyzable promotes robust and open communication with the scientific community thereby bolstering the credibility of scientific findings and the regulatory decision-making based upon those findings. The availability of agency scientific information advances public health by sparking scientific discovery, including prompting the scientific community to address critical challenges in medical product development. Facilitating the free flow of information underlying the agency's decision-making and advances in regulatory science allows the public, Congress, media, and industry to better understand FDA's decisions and the scientific basis for its regulatory decision-making.
We invite you to learn more about FDA Research at the links below.