Resources for Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Counting FDA Approvals For Fun And Profit

blogs.forbes.com

Counting the number of new drugs trickling out of the Food and Drug Administration is an important measure of the health of the pharmaceutical industry and a great way for reporters and pundits to come up with hand-wringing features. These tend to focus on one of two themes: (1) drug companies just can't invent anything anymore, or (2) the FDA is really slowing up drug approvals.

The count for 2007 is just 19. That is extremely low. (See this Bloomberg story.) But you don't need an pharmaceuticals analyst or even a journalist to know that. Here's how to get there on your own.

First, go to this page, hosted by the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), an FDA devision. Scroll past the section titled "NDA and BLA Approvals." Those include new uses for old drugs. Instead, scroll down to "NME Drug And New Biologic Approvals," which counts only medicines that haven't hit the market before.

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