Rather late this year, the FDA has posted the tentative dates for advisory committee meetings for 2008. Right now, except for meetings that have already been announced, these are primarily "save the date" reservations so that the many experts on the panels can clear their calendars. However, it also provides a little insight into how active some of these committees may expect to be.
Of note, the newly formed Risk Communication Advisory Committee has several dates reserved for meetings: February 28-29; May 15-16; August 21-22; November 17-18 – essentially two days of meetings for every quarter.
Another busy calendar is listed from the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee: February 20-21; May 21-22; September 24-25; November 19-20.
One of the busiest calendars in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research is the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee: March 13, April days to be announced, May 30, September 10-11, December 15-16.
Notably, after a year that has had a number of food scares, the Food Advisory Committee is only scheduled to meet for two days – July 22 and December 2.
If you know an action date for a particular investigational drug, you can count back a few months and approximately peg the date of a possible advisory committee meeting. Or, you can just mark you calendar for these days.
