By the Numbers

204,000

Increase in the number of adverse drug reactions reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 2000 and 2006 (From 267,000 to 471,000)

9,588

Increase in the number of deaths due to adverse drug reactions over the same period (from 5,519 to 15,107)

10

Percent of adverse drug reactions the FDA estimates it is informed of

1.5

Cents per day Americans pay to fund the FDA

65

Percent of the studies drug firms promised to conduct that hadn’t begun as of 2006

22

Percent of FDA advisory board meetings in which more than half the board members had direct financial interests in the companies whose medical products they were evaluating or their rivals

200

Number of inspectors employed by the FDA

350,000

Number of testing sites those inspectors are charged with monitoring

Sources: Reader’s Digest; Journal of the American Medical Association; New York Times