With the FDA run­ning out of funds, health­care groups warn that the drug ap­proval process will soon be de­railed

The longest ever US gov­ern­ment shut­down has forced the FDA to fur­lough work­ers and hun­ker down around key tasks. But with cash run­ning out and their hands tied on gath­er­ing new fees, the agency is on the verge of see­ing its work on new drug ap­provals be­gin to grind to a halt. And a host of promi­nent health­care groups — in­clud­ing some well known sci­en­tif­ic or­ga­ni­za­tions — are warn­ing that the shut­down now threat­ens the na­tion’s ac­cess to cru­cial new ther­a­pies.

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