MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) became a central focus of US and global attention in 2020, since the agency regulates many of the therapies, treatments and interventions necessary to mitigate and combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency faced many challenges in light of the inevitable politicization of a public health emergency, exercising rarely used authorities to facilitate an expedient response to the pandemic in addition to pushing forward its traditional regulatory agenda.