Political Quotes

“life-saving new drugs do take too long to reach the people who need them. From my district in Montgomery County, PA, I have heard many a compelling story from constituents with cancer, A.L.S., Lou Gehrig's disease, epilepsy, or AIDS, who speak of the difficulties in obtaining these life-saving, life-extending drugs. They need them because the approval process in our country is so prolonged and, in effect, they have to turn to other countries where the products are available. Is it not ironic that most of the life-saving drugs that are produced in the world are produced here in the United Stats, but our patients and our constituents are the last to receive them because of over-regulation and delays in the system which can be cleared up. Do not get me wrong. The Food and Drug Administration serves a valuable purpose in maintaining high safety and efficacy standards. However, it is important to note that the FDA's actions directly affect the lives of patients and the ability of physicians to provide state-of-the-art care for their patients. What we need to have is a speeded up process to approve or disapprove drugs so that the investments made by biotech and pharmaceutical companies can result in having saved lives and the quality of those lives extended for many years to come. In addition, the FDA regulates businesses that produce 25 percent of America's gross national product, so the agency's actions also impact on our country's economic well-being.”