Some of medicine’s most consequential breakthroughs occur years after a treatment first reaches patients. Researchers discover that a medicine developed for one disease can also attack another—or that it can be reformulated and administered in a way that is safer, faster and far more convenient.
These advances aren’t accidents. They require enormous investments in scientific research, clinical trials, manufacturing and regulatory approval. Developing a new use or improved formulation can take years of additional work and hundreds of millions—sometimes billions—of dollars.
The U.S. has long led the world in producing these breakthroughs because we reward risk-taking and innovation. Unfortunately, a misguided Biden-era policy now threatens to undermine that uniquely American success.