The Drug Approval Process and the Information it Provides

By law, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for determining whether a new drug is safe and efficacious before it is approved for marketing in the U.S. and for monitoring its use after approval. This paper provides a brief overview of the approval process, in terms of responsibilities of the sponsor in submitting an application for review to the FDA and FDA's responsibilities and organizational procedures for reviewing and approving those applications. A brief history on the legislation regarding the FDA's responsibility in the drug approval area is discussed along with recent regulations, legislation, and FDA initiatives aimed at improving the drug approval process. Specific information that can be released to the public upon request is also discussed. This paper is limited to the regulation of drugs; somewhat different regulations govern the review and regulation of biological products and abbreviated new drug applications.