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Updated: US Likely To Lose Its First Approver Advantage After FDA Layoffs

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith, Elizabeth Orr, and Derrick Gingery

Mass FDA layoffs on 1 April were designed to spare product reviewers, but still touched many who are critical to the application review process or drug development, which could mean fewer treatments are brought to the US market first.

EU and US flags side by side.
Europe may be the big winner after the Trump Administration's layoffs at FDA. (Shutterstock)

The speed of US medical product reviews likely will be slowed by the approximately 3,500 US Food and Drug Administration job cuts made 1 April, which experts expect will propel drug and medical device developers to obtain product approvals in other parts of the world, such as Europe, first.

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