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Article contents
Case Studies of Expedited Review: AZT and L-Dopa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 April 2021
Extract
The HIV epidemic has led to a reassessment of attitudes regarding public access to new therapeutic agents for the treatment of life-threatening and severely debilitating diseases. People with AIDS and their advocates have relentlessly attacked the process by which new drugs are developed and approved for marketing in this country, a process characterized as overly conservative, risk-averse, and paternalistic. In response to growing pressure to accelerate access to important new therapeutic agents, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued several bold initiatives designed to facilitate the development of experimental drugs used in the treatment of serious or immediately life-threatening diseases.
The clinical testing and regulatory review of new therapeutic agents in the United States are lengthy processes. A recent analysis of new chemical entities (NCE) approved by the FDA in 1987,1988, and 1989 has revealed that, on average, the clinical development phase for new drugs exceeds five years (63 months).
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References
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Based on Maxwell, R.A. Eckhardt, S.B., “L-Dopa”, in Drug Discovery: A Casebook and Analysis, Clifton, NJ: Humana Press, 1990: 179–91.Google Scholar
Supra note 14, for L-Dopa and 1970 drugs.Google Scholar
Supra note 20.Google Scholar
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