By Margaret Anderson, Executive Director, FasterCures

“…One thing is clear: if we are to solve the most-pressing public health problems we face today, said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg last week in a speech at the National Press Club that outlined the agency’s vision for advancing regulatory science.

These days it seems, each time anyone – government official, patient advocate, legislator – says anything about the FDA, it often starts with, “The FDA needs…” That’s because this agency, tasked with regulating nearly 25 percent of consumer spending in America, needs so much just to be able to complete its enormous tasks at hand: ensuring safe and effective products, and promoting public health. We all know and publicly acknowledge the gravity of the need. Let’s act and begin addressing it.

At FasterCures, we are committed to improving health outcomes, a better quality of life, and greater productivity for all by ensuring that effective treatment options are accessible and available when disease strikes. But we cannot accelerate medical progress if we do not have a robust, scientifically sound FDA. The real potential of scientific breakthroughs and cutting edge medical solutions to improve the lives of patients, even cure disease, will not be actualized without appropriately resourced review and regulatory processes.