Current
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in charge of approving pharmaceuticals in the United States. “It takes on average 12 years and over US$350 million to get a new drug from the laboratory onto the pharmacy shelf (source http://www.drugs.com/fda-approval-process.html). As such, the current approval process often delays the release of badly needed drugs and certainly leads to increased pharmaceutical costs which are passed onto the consumers. Further, given the high cost of and time involved in bringing drugs and treatments to market in the United States, US citizens are turning to foreign countries for treatments and to buy their medications. This hurts US citizens in two ways. First, it denies them of badly needed medications. Next, it unnecessarily adds to the financ