The National Cancer Institute (NCI) on Wednesday launched a new effort under the cancer "Moonshot" initiative to speed access to approved and investigational drugs for use in preclinical and clinical cancer studies. The effort, referred to as the NCI Formulary, is intended to streamline the negotiation process between investigators at NCI-designated cancer centers and participating pharmaceutical companies. "As genomic sequencing data become mainstream in cancer therapy...

At a fundamental level, the regulation of healthcare products is about trust. Every time a drug, device, biologic or other product is prescribed by a doctor, dispensed by a pharmacist or taken by a patient, they do so with the basic understanding that a product is more likely than not to help alleviate symptoms or suffering. While this doesn't seem like much, it's a far cry from the days of old when the trust one had in a product was based on faith or its marketing. No...