House Defeats Bill to Gut FDA Drug Protections

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One of the myths of conservatism is that the FDA approval process keeps good drugs off the market. The FDA is charged with protecting the public against drug companies that want to hurry their untested drugs to the market to get back some of their development costs and to beat the competition. So conservatives wanted to let drug companies get into the market even if the drugs had not been fully tested. Surprisingly the Republican House shut it down.

Republican backers brought up the measure under a suspension of the rules, which does not allow for amendments and requires approval from two-thirds of those present to pass. The legislation failed on a vote of 259 to 140.

The key here is that the people who know what is best came out against the bill.

On Monday, more than 75 patient groups, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Lung Association and the Cystic Fibrosis Association, had sent a letter to House leaders saying the bill “would not increase access to promising therapies” because it didn't deal with the main barriers to experimental drugs  — the cost of drugs and company restrictions on making therapies available outside of clinical trials.

So at least for a while the ideologues who vote on fantasy have lost.