Securities and Exchange Commission officials say the SEC will work more closely with the Food and Drug Administration to root out violators of securities laws.
The FDA already supplies some technical help to the commission’s corporate finance division in the division’s review of SEC filings. It also provides documents and information to the commission’s enforcement division, according to the SEC.
The FDA agreed to put together a centralized way of referring to the SEC staff possible securities laws violations by FDA-regulated public companies. The FDA also pledged to identify information contacts in each of its main segments for the SEC and it staff. The contacts would be responsible for making sure that such requests are handled promptly and thoroughly, according to the commission.
Further, the food-and-drug rule maker agreed to continue sharing non-public information with the SEC and to speed up the sharing. “When companies misrepresent the status of the FDA’s review of their products, investors can be harmed,” said Stephen M. Cutler, the SEC’s enforcement director.