HEALTH CARE

User-Friendly FDA: Administrators at the FDA’s new district office in Irvine will try to get friendlier with local companies.

Elaine Messa, the district director, says the agency plans to start training programs on regulatory topics for the companies it inspects. Such programs might be offered with the companies’ assistance and include sessions for regulators as well, she says.

“Frankly, I think we have a good working relationship with the industry,” she said.

Regulatory specialists with local biomedical companies welcome the agency’s outreach efforts. Bob Bard, I-Flow’s vice president of regulatory and legal affairs, says Messa wants to be “a part of what we’re doing out here, not just an adversary.”

The agency’s Los Angeles district staff, including administrators, inspectors and compliance officers, previously were dispersed among two locations in Los Angeles and a third in Irvine. They moved last month to new offices on MacArthur Boulevard.

“Orange County put us in the middle of the territory of the firms we inspect,” she said.

The district includes nine Southern California counties and the state of Arizona. It regulates companies that make or sell a broad range of items including medical devices, drugs, blood-based products, human tissues for transplants and food items.