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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:21AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-long-term-side-effects dept.

New drug approvals hit 21-year high in 2017

U.S. drug approvals hit a 21-year high in 2017, with 46 novel medicines winning a green light -- more than double the previous year -- while the figure also rose in the European Union.

The EU recommended 92 new drugs including generics, up from 81, and China laid out plans to speed up approvals in what is now the world's second biggest market behind the United States.

Yet the world's biggest drugmakers saw average returns on their research and development spending fall, reflecting more competitive pressures and the growing share of new products now coming from younger biotech companies. Consultancy Deloitte said last month that projected returns at 12 of the world's top drugmakers were at an eight-year low of only 3.2 percent.

Many of the drugs receiving a green light in 2017 were for rare diseases and sub-types of cancer, which often target very small populations, although they can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Significantly, the U.S. drug tally of 46 does not include the first of a new wave of cell and gene therapies from Novartis, Gilead Sciences and Spark Therapeutics that were approved in 2017 under a separate category.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has indicated that it might be time to revise the Orphan Drug Act of 1983.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @06:03PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @06:03PM (#617840)

    I mean, this isn't exactly a controversial article. If we wanted more comments, we should have said something like, "Trump's FDA breaks record for drug approval, scientists concerned about safety!"

    THAT would have created a nice little flame-war to keep us all warm and cozy. As it stands, we're stuck with the silly "not enough women in Bitcoin" article above.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 05 2018, @12:22AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 05 2018, @12:22AM (#618110)

    I had something to say, but whatever, and ignored this. People who know the scam already know, those who don't are pointless to attempt convincing. Its the same old choose a pointless threshold of a meaningless number to indicate progress thing. What more is there to say?