The FDA Blocks a Promising COVID-19 Treatment

For two years, the citizens of Western democracies have been subjected to massive government failure to deal with the pandemic! More about this e.g. here. One of the few exceptions: President Trump's rush to develop a new vaccine and to approve it in record time!

The article below is not specifically about the FDA's latest blunder, but about a historic review of such blunders.

"Last week, the United Kingdom approved a new antiviral pill (molnupiravir). Studies show the drug reduces the risk of hospitalization and death among high‐​risk COVID patients by half. U.S. taxpayers funded molnupiravir’s development. Yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration isn’t even meeting to consider approval until Nov. 30.

Molnupiravir is the latest example of the FDA denying patients their most important health care right — the right to make their own health decisions — by prohibiting them from getting drugs that have received approval in other advanced countries. ...
In the 1980s, an HIV-AIDS diagnosis was a death sentence. Patients were dying by the tens of thousands. Yet the FDA infamously denied AIDS patients access to treatments that were available in China, Israel, Japan, Mexico and Sweden. ..."

Again and Again, the FDA Fails American Patients | Cato Institute Molnupiravir is saving lives in the United Kingdom; the FDA is blocking it here.