Libertarian ideas on FDA deregulation threaten biotech; It's time for some real power to reform drug prices, reasonably
Do you sincerely want to deregulate drug development?
Silicon Valley’s Balaji Srinivasan had quite a habit of tackling the FDA on Twitter, criticizing the agency for its slow and backward ways. But all that came back to haunt him after reporters picked up on the news that he and fellow ‘seasteader’ Jim O’Neill had been in to chat with Donald Trump about top jobs at the FDA. Suddenly, that Twitter channel vanished into thin air, as we reported first. But his Tweets were saved, and live on, even as we hear that Srinivasan may not be in line for that job any more. Trump’s final pick to run the FDA will have a huge influence on how the agency plans to speed drug development. And we have a right and a need to suss things out for ourselves. So far, this episode ranks as another reason to suspect that the FDA may soon be headed for a wrong turn, especially if the new focus is on a substantial deregulation of drug development born out of a disgust for the bureaucracy.
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