To America's Health A Proposal to Reform the Food and Drug Administration

A government monopoly over drug regulation is not sacrosanct. In fact, federal oversight-which vitally affects the availability of drugs to patients in need-is in shambles. The regulatory monopoly of the federal Food and Drug Administration has become, literally, overkill and actually threatens public health. Regulatory reform that introduces competition and incentives to get safe, effective drugs to patients can, however, transform the drug development process and reverse the current upward spiral of time and costs. The public will benefit directly by earlier access to greater numbers of less costly drugs and indirectly by greater robustness and productivity in the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Henry I. Miller -- physician, molecular biologist, public policy analyst, and former federal regulator -- is a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University