FDA chief reflects on landmark year for medical product innovation

In a posting on the US Food and Drug Administration’s website, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb reflects on the achievements of the agency in 2017, a record year for new product approvals.

“Today, new medical breakthroughs are profoundly altering how we view and treat disease in ways that seemed inconceivable just years ago. In this modern medical setting, FDA is evaluating all aspects of its policies to make sure we’re protecting consumers, while promoting beneficial innovation that has the potential to effectively treat disease for human and animal patients, and improve public health,” he commented.

The FDA approved a modern record number (56) of  novel drugs and biologics in 2017. Of these 56 novel approvals this past year, 46 were new molecular entities approved by the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research – of which 28 were approved using one or more of the FDA’s expedited review programs.