Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – Powerful Agency had Humble Beginnings

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had its beginnings in 1862 in the form of a single chemist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 1906, its existence was formalized with the Federal Food and Drug Act. Now the FDA has over 9,000 employees with over 150 field offices and laboratories across the United States. A regulatory, scientific and public health agency, the FDA’s jurisdiction ranges from most food products (other than meat and poultry) to human and animal drugs, medical devices and radiation-emitting products, to cosmetics and animal feed.

Online queries for the FDA and related topics are considerable. The following search frequency study quantifies and ranks these queries into comprehensible bar graphs. The information from these graphs provides some fascinating insights into query habits and can be used by addictions researchers to track trends and developments in all types of substance abuse issues.

FDA Approved Drugs – Where are Searches Centered?

Graphs 1 below sheds some light on the FDA approved drugs for which individuals are searching.  In Graph 1, weight loss seems to be on the minds of many Internet searchers. “FDA approved diet” and “FDA approved weight loss” are both popular searches. Other searches of note include searches for “fda paxil” (an antidepressant), “fda celebrex” (an anti-inflammatory), “fda cialis” (an erectile dysfunction drug), and most surprisingly, a search for “fda approved penis enlargement”.

FDA - Prevalent Search Topics - Graph 1

(Continued on Graph 3 at the bottom of this page)

Top 30 two and three word combinations

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	0		48,000
fda approved	46285
fda approval	7490
fda approved diet	5541
fda medical	4896
fda approved drugs	4175
fda recalls	4168
fda website	3953
fda approved weight loss	3870
history of the fda	3685
diet pills	3579
approved diet pills	3493
fda approved diet pills	3493
fda regulations	3153
fda paxil	3140
fda medical devices	3112
fda celebrex	2980
fda recall	2722
fda approved penis enlargement	2703
fda 21	2592
cialis fda	2583
fda drugs	2267
fda drug	2246
weight loss pill	2241
diet pill	2080
fda warning	2001
fda approved diet pill	1977
fda medical device	1764
fda pregnancy	1751
fda pregnancy category	1724
fda logo	1668
	0		48,000

FDA Approval – Other Interesting and Varied Searches

FDA approval is the only way in which drugs can be sold legally in the United States. In 2007, the FDA awarded 69 new patents, which is a 26% drop in FDA approved drugs from 2006. Some analysts have speculated that the FDA has become more conservative in their process after the FDA approved Vioxx, an arthritis drug that was eventually pulled off the market because of an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

Many of the searches in Graph 3 demonstrate a query interest in some of the more controversial aspects surrounding the FDA, including “fda conspiracy” (917), “fda problems” (755), “fda corruption” (608), “fda issues” (551), “fda cases” (551) and “fda court cases (458).

FDA Market Research - Graph 2

Top 100 words used in fda searches
(Top 1000 can be found at Top 100 fda exact phrases and top 1,000 concepts/words. - Graph 5)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	0		50,000
approved	48896
drugs	9835
approval	9125
diet	5976
pill	5897
medical	5585
history	5585
loss	4837
weight	4779
pills	4299
recalls	4200
website	3960
celebrex	3745
penis	3698
enlargement	3631
regulations	3591
recall	3415
paxil	3367
devices	3164
drug	3001
generic	2898
cialis	2728
21	2601
device	2401
what	2168
new	2127
warning	2106
pregnancy	1916
category	1855
vitamins	1735
logo	1672
clinical	1565
red	1474
yeast	1429
rice	1424
news	1380
leiner	1338
letters	1295
non	1272
botox	1247
book	1162
meridia	1157
cfr	1149
orange	1135
process	1134
stand	1116
list	1074
consent	1061
health	1032
cases	1017
viagra	1010
guidelines	950
stevia	947
schedules	938
decrees	934
medwatch	926
conspiracy	920
2579	916
provera	915
depo	880
male	873
guidance	871
enhancement	862
problems	855
us	844
1572	829
lipitor	802
phentermine	802
chantix	791
approvals	785
classification	779
prescription	748
standardization	732
claims	726
buy	694
where	675
ambien	671
claritin	659
medicine	651
citrate	642
sildenafil	623
corruption	614
trials	609
jobs	603
compliance	602
regulation	595
finasteride	592
supplements	588
products	587
about	572
web	567
funding	566
cod	566
monograph	564
bans	560
inspections	558
issues	557
pyramid	556
disclaimer	550
consultants	541
	0		50,000

Addictions Research Centered in Montreal, Canada

Clear Haven Center, a prominent drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility near Montreal, Canada, devotes time, effort and resources to the enhancement and improvement of addictions research. Clear Haven’s generous support of search frequency research has brought this innovative form of investigation to the industry forefront.

FDA - Prevalent Search Topics, Continued - Graph 3

Top 31 - 100 two and three word combinations
(Top 30 are in Graph 1 above)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	400		1600
fda history	1503
fda news	1318
fda warning letters	1291
leiner fda	1281
botox fda	1171
fda orange	1134
fda orange book	1132
fda approved vitamins	1105
penis enlargement pill	1103
enlargement pill	1103
meridia fda	1080
fda consent decrees	934
fda medwatch	924
stevia fda	920
fda schedules	918
fda conspiracy	917
fda 2579	916
provera fda	895
generic viagra	849
fda guidance	845
fda medical device approval	838
fda 1572	828
non fda drugs	824
depo provera fda	822
us fda	812
fda approvals	765
fda drug classification	765
fda approval process	759
fda problems	755
fda penis	754
fda penis enlargement	745
fda guidelines	741
fda standardization	732
fda lipitor	730
celebrex fda	652
generic drugs	625
generic viagra sildenafil citrate	620
generic viagra sildenafil	620
ambien fda	609
fda corruption	608
botox fda approval	603
fda jobs	590
chantix fda	588
fda 21 cfr	583
fda clinical trials	575
claritin fda	566
fda approved phentermine cod	564
fda compliance	563
fda regulation	561
fda cfr	560
fda bans	559
medical device fda	559
fda web	557
new fda approved drugs	557
fda inspections	556
fda pyramid	554
fda monograph	554
fda issues	553
fda cases	551
fda disclaimer	550
fda funding	550
fda generic drugs	548
enlargement pills	533
fda consultants	532
penis enlargement pills	529
approved penis enlargement pills	490
fda wikipedia	487
fda drug approval	478
finasteride fda	475
fda court cases	458
	400		1600