Pill Report

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By Newsweek Editors

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GET READY FOR ANOTHER round in the long-running controversy over the sleeping pill Halcion. The FDA launched a special inquiry two years ago, after an agency report accused the Upjohn Company of failing to disclose some of the drug's known hazards. An FDA task force has since drafted what sources say is a tough critique of the company and the agency itself. But FDA officials have so far declined to release it, and critics in Congress suspect it's being watered down. Last week Rep. Joe Barton fired off a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, demanding that every draft of the Halcion report, along with any relevant memos or phone logs, be turned over to the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations by May 31. The FDA rejected a similar request in February, but Barton promises subpoenas if the agency misses his new deadline.

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