Over Its 111-Year History, This Approval Marks a First for the FDA

Since the passage of the Pure Food and Drugs Act back in 1906, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been the regulatory agency that's stood between drug developers and pharmacy shelves. Over those 111 years, more than 1,500 drugs have been approved for sale by the agency to treat a variety of ailments, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, to name a few. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists some of the most common causes of death, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, as being among the most preventable of all health problems. For instance, getting regular health checkups, eating right, and exercising may lower your chances of developing these diseases. But at the very top of the list when it comes to preventable health problems is smoking. Smoking increases the risk of developing all three of these ailments, and is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, including more than 41,000 due to secondhand smoke. 

Image source: Getty Images.

Continue reading

Source: Fool.com