FDA strategic plan heavily reliant on IT

The Food and Drug Administration set agencywide goals in its new draft Strategic Priorities Plan for 2011 to 2015 that touch on many uses of IT.

One IT-related program under development is the Analytical Tools Initiative that seeks to develop devices that can rapidly test products in the field, such as devices that test imported drugs and packaging to determine whether they are counterfeit.

The Food and Drug Administration set agencywide goals in its new draft Strategic Priorities Plan for 2011 to 2015,  which also touches on many uses of information technology at the agency.

FDA seeks to advance regulatory science and innovation, strengthen the global supply chain, improve compliance and enforcement, and expand services to special populations, according to plan details released on its website.

The agency is developing a five-year Information Technology Strategic Plan outlining development and implementation of IT solutions, partnerships with industry to advance innovation, maintaining cybersecurity of FDA systems, and managing IT spending to maximize value, according to the document.


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In addition, FDA is transforming and modernizing its IT infrastructure and data centers to provide “modern, networked information and shared data resources” and to deliver high performance, greater data storage and accommodations for future growth, the plan said.

FDA regulates food, drugs, medical devices and other consumer products, has taken on a larger workload as a result of recent laws for tobacco control and health care reform.

The FDA will accept public comments on the draft until Nov. 1.