Knowledge not communicated almost invariably is knowledge wasted, and if the information can help better protect and promote the health of our public, the waste is intolerable. At the Food and Drug Administration, we are acutely conscious that this is especially true about the wealth of data that are developed or received by our Agency about the safety of new or widely used medications. Communicating the right facts in the right way to those who need to know them - the nation's healthcare professionals - is therefore an integral part of our mission. I regard this task to be as vital as any other purpose of our Agency.

This Drug Safety Newsletter is a new means toward this objective and an important addition to FDA's various communication tools for disseminating helpful and reliable information about the products we regulate. The role of this Newsletter is to keep our medical community posted - including physicians, dentists, nurses, and pharmacists - about selected postmarketing drug safety reviews, important emerging drug safety issues, and recently approved pharmaceutical products. We expect to publish it quarterly and e-mail it for free to all subscribers.

We're launching this publication to help healthcare professionals make better decisions about the medicines they use in their practice and stimulate their reporting of adverse events. The Newsletter is another FDA contribution to our nation's greatest strength, which is the good health and vigor of our people.

Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.
Commissioner of Food and Drugs