FDA Commissioner questions long periods needed for drug approvals as process under evaluation at Senate budget hearing

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary says in prepared testimony at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies budget hearing for fiscal year 2026 that priorities included healthier food for children, universal flu shot, meaningful treatments for ALS and Parkinson's, treatments for rare diseases, and cancer therapies so powerful tumors were eliminated without surgery or chemo, with highest priority ensuring no time was wasted evaluating novel PTSD treatments for brave veterans who served in unnecessary wars, while examining why new drugs took over 10 years to reach market.