PLAYING CATCH-UP: THE FDA, SCIENCE, AND DRUG REGULATION

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is under attack for paying too little attention to drug safety, while the pharmaceutical industry is being criticized both for unsafe drugs and too little innovation. Fortunately, incentives for maintaining safety are very strong. But obsolete regulation stands in the way of efficient utilization of recent advances in technology and basic science. With the fates of the FDA and the industry more intertwined than ever, our health depends on regulatory innovation as much as on scientific progress.

American Enterprise Institute (http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.24130/pub_detail.asp)