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The Wall Street Journal reports that, “The criminal-investigations wing of the Food and Drug Administration is in hot water with Democrats and Republicans in both the Senate and the House.”

That would be the he Office of Criminal Investigations, the OCI. It seems that many of the usual suspect FDA-bashers (Senator Grassley, Mr. Stupack, Mr. Barton) are “concerned” that the OCI is being pressured to pursue some cases (like the abuse of scheduled medicines such as Oxycontin or ingredients for methamphetamine) while ignoring others (like the brouhaha over Ketek clinical trial oversight).

Why would the OCI focus on the former rather than the latter? Hint: Much larger public health issues. Why would some politicians want the OCI to reverse its priorities? Could it be … politics? After all, bashing Big Pharma (or, if you prefer, Big Pinata) is much sexier, garnering much bigger headlines.

It's also important to mention the OCI's central role in fighting counterfeit drugs (aka: international healthcare terrorism). But saying "thank you" isn't in the current Congressional lexicon. Too bad. OCI's earned it many times over.

According to the Journal, “Mr. Grassley has already cut into OCI's autonomy. For nearly a decade, OCI worked under a little-known memorandum of agreement that gave OCI precedence over the Inspector General's office at Health and Human Services Department in conducting internal-affairs cases. That authority was withdrawn at the end of 2007 after Mr. Grassley complained that OCI selectively investigated FDA whistleblowers.”

There’s a difference between whistleblowers and felons. Note: Releasing internal FDA documents to the media is a felony.

As if the slight to the very hard working and dedicated OCI staff wasn’t bad enough – the WSJ article singles out the OCI’s director, Terry Vermillion, for particular abuse.

“Mr. Vermillion hasn't been made available for interviews. He came under fire from Democrats and Republicans last year when news reports revealed that large bonuses pushed his take-home pay for 2006 to $198,000, more than that of a member of Congress or a Supreme Court justice."

Note to Alicia Mundy: What about all those Congressional perks? They sure add up --and quite nicely. FDA perks are restricted to parking spaces at HQ. Sloppy reporting. (I assume the Supremes must have pretty nifty perks too.)

Terry is a tough mother you-know-what. Precisely the kind of guy you want running the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations. And I say that from personal, first-hand knowledge and experience.

And he’s got a BS tolerance about the size of a pea. Anybody who would be foolish enough to tell him to selectively do his job would be in for a very unwelcome and brutal surprise.

Another shameful show trial? Yes. But what’s worse is that it continues to erode FDA morale and dampen esprit de corps -- just at a time when the agency (and the country) needs it more than ever.