For the agency, this is a case of ‘been down so long, looks like up to me.’ The survey finds that 45 percent of Americans say the FDA is doing an excellent or good job in ensuring the safety and efficacy of new prescription drugs. That’s up from 36% a year ago, but still down from 56 percent in 2004. What’s so good about 45 percent? Not much, really.

Note that the stats were compiled between May 22 and 24, right after the New England Journal of Medicine posted the controversial meta-analysis of Avandia. Since then, negative publicity has intensified, culminating in yesterday’s congressional hearing, which generated a torrid amount of damaging stories about Glaxo and the FDA.

Conduct another poll in a few weeks, and perhaps the result will drop. Meanwhile, FDA commish Andy von Eschenbach is likely to tout the uptick as an example of the improvements he’s making at the agency. Look for this to appear in his upcoming speeches.

Other key findings are worse…..

49 percent say the FDA is doing a fair or poor job on safety, and nearly 58 percent gave the agency fair to poor ratings on ensuring innovative drugs are approved faster. In both cases, the results are lower than in 2006.

The survey found most Americans are confident drug safety would be improved by the Senate bill giving the FDA new powers, including the ability to fine drugmakers for false or misleading ads. But most Americans aren’t confident that separate House legislation will contain drug costs. That bill creates an initiative to compare meds to determine which are most cost effective.

Soruce: The Wall Street Journal (subscription required)