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  1. About the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP)

Actions to Address Recommendations from the Reagan-Udall Evaluation of CTP


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Background: Reagan-Udall Foundation (RUF) Evaluation

In September 2022, per the request of the FDA Commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf, an independent expert panel facilitated by the Reagan-Udall Foundation began an operational evaluation of the agency’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). The evaluation’s goal was to help ensure that CTP has the tools to address today’s challenges as it works to prevent tobacco use among youth and to reduce tobacco-attributable death and disease.

The evaluation assessed processes and operations related to several topic areas within CTP’s portfolio, including:

  1. Regulations and guidance,  
  2. Application review,  
  3. Compliance and enforcement, with a focus on efforts to remove illegal products from the market, and 
  4. Communication with the public and other external stakeholders.

The final report from the operational evaluation’s independent expert panel included 15 recommendations, which were released on December 19, 2022. Subsequently, CTP was charged by the Commissioner with leading the agency’s response to the recommendations, including developing a plan to meaningfully address the report’s findings and recommendations.

CTP's Review of the Evaluation Report

The approach used by CTP to review and respond to the evaluation recommendations was described in a statement released by the CTP Director. In brief, in January 2023, CTP convened six distinct task forces to address the recommendations, which were led by relevant center leadership for the topic area of focus. The task forces were comprised of agency staff with relevant subject matter expertise for each topic area, both across CTP and in other relevant FDA offices. 

The task forces included: 

  • Cross-Cutting
  • Science and Application Review
  • Regulation and Guidance
  • Compliance and Enforcement
  • Public Education Campaigns 
  • Resources

To ensure broad CTP staff engagement beyond just those serving on the task forces, a survey was sent to all CTP staff to seek their input on the report findings and actions to address the recommendations. The staff input was shared with the relevant task forces. The task forces convened throughout January 2023, during which they deliberated over actions to address the recommendations. 

CTP welcomed the opportunity for the evaluation and appreciates the work of the independent expert evaluation panel. CTP is committed to addressing all 15 recommendations in the report as quickly as possible. Implementation of some recommendations will take time and others will require collaboration, including with federal partners outside FDA. Therefore, some activities will take longer to be initiated or completed. But regardless of whether these planned actions are immediate or long-term, CTP will continue to provide public updates on progress in achieving them. 

Information on the status of CTP activities to address each recommendation are provided below, by topic area. The recommendation numbers correspond to those in the panel’s report. These activities will be updated routinely to reflect CTP’s latest progress.

Recommendations, Actions, and Status Updates

The statements below by CTP Director Brian King summarize all actions and status updates that have been completed by a specific date.

To view current progress on each recommendation, please review the sections below.

 Cross-Cutting

 

Science and Application Review

 

Regulation and Guidance

 

Compliance and Enforcement

 

Public Education Campaigns

 

Resources

 
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