Many physicians are unfamiliar with how the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulates new drugs and medical devices, and they may be under the impression that the data supporting these approvals are more rigorous than they are, according to a national survey of physicians conducted by researchers at UC San Francisco (UCSF). 

Physicians said they wanted to see more rigorous pre-market evidence, as well as regulatory action against drugs and devices that do not demonstrate safety and effectiveness after they have been approved for use.

UC San Francisco’s Thomas G. Martin, MD, a leading expert in blood cancers, has received a grant of nearly $4.6 million from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to produce a CAR T cell therapy for multiple myeloma, the second most common malignancy among blood cancers.

A team of researchers from UC San Francisco has found that Paxlovid did not reduce the risk of developing long COVID for vaccinated, non-hospitalized individuals during their first COVID-19 infection. They also found that a higher proportion of individuals than previously reported experience rebounds after taking Paxlovid. 

The study appears Jan. 4, 2024, in the Journal of Medical Virology.

C. Benjamin Ma, MD, a highly regarded orthopaedic surgeon and advanced imaging researcher, has been appointed as chair of the UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Ma will assume his new role on Jan.1, 2024.