Despite perceptions to the contrary, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved more new cancer drugs, and approved them faster, than the European Medicines Agency (EMA), getting the drugs to patients more quickly, according to a new study. Research published in Health Affairs shows that during 2003–10, FDA approved 32 new cancer drugs while EMA approved 26. The median time from marketing submission to approval for all 23 of the drugs approved by both agencies was 182 days for FDA, but 350 days for EMA. “To patients battling cancer, with no treatment options, access to new medicines five-and-a-half months sooner is a very important and potentially life-saving difference,” said Ellen Sigal, of the nonprofit advocacy group, Friends of Cancer Research.
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