The Food and Drug Administration recently announced that, for the first time in more than 20 years, it will expand the range of permitted sunscreen options available to consumers this summer. This should increase competition, giving consumers more choices and lower prices.
But you might be asking yourself: Why should I care? Cool, but is this really a big deal?
It is because of what this decision says about the broader direction of the Trump administration and its FDA.
REFORM FDA ADVISORY COMMITTEES AND PUT RARE DISEASE PATIENTS FIRST
For years, the public became accustomed to a regulatory system that moved at a snail’s pace. New products, treatments, and technologies spent years working their way through bureaucratic processes before consumers could benefit.
The Trump administration is taking a different approach.
Time and time again, the administration pushed federal agencies to identify bottlenecks and speed up product approval when doing so can safely increase competition, innovation, and consumer choice.
The sunscreen decision is but one example.
Earlier this year, the FDA approved two new cancer treatments in record time. According to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the agency finished the reviews in record time. In his own words, “one in 45 days — the closest before that was 310 days — the other in 55 days.” Such timelines were almost unthinkable not long ago.
The administration also directed federal health agencies to quickly develop and review promising psychedelic therapies for mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder and treatment-resistant depression. These treatments mean everything for many veterans, first responders, and countless other people who struggle with these conditions, and they couldn’t be happier.
Whether it’s for sunscreen, cancer treatments, medical devices, or new therapies for devastating illnesses, if a product is safe and efficient, consumers should not be forced to wait years longer than necessary to benefit from it.
The competition that fast drug approvals bring matters. We’re not talking about a small chunk of change here.
A recent study by former White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Tomas Philipson found that speeding up approval times for drugs, biologics, and medical devices by one year would generate between $4.1 trillion and $10.2 trillion in value for consumers and producers. Speeding approvals by six years could generate as much as $61 trillion in benefits.
While numbers may sound astonishing, they reflect the realities of modern medicine.
Developing a new drug often takes 10 to 15 years, and most never even make it through the process at all. Every year saved from unnecessary delays means patients get access to new drugs earlier than they otherwise would — and more competition, of course, lowers costs.
And this is about a lot more than just economics.
China now advances promising therapies into human trials faster than many Western nations and has expanded its share of global early-stage drug development. Beijing is laser-focused on avoiding the process moving too slowly. American policymakers must do the same.
The FDA’s job is to protect the public, and rigorous review is always necessary. But there’s a difference between careful oversight and unnecessary delays. There’s a big difference between making sure a product is safe and making the public wait years longer than necessary for the benefits it can provide.
SHUT DOWN THE FDA’S FAILED GLP-1 GREEN LIST
The sunscreen decision seems modest. Most people will probably never read the FDA announcement. But over time, reforms such as this one make markets more competitive, products more affordable, and innovation more accessible.
That’s not bad for a summer sunscreen story. And it’s not a bad way to start the season.
Joe Barton is a former member of Congress who chaired the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which oversees the FDA. He moved several FDA reform bills during his chairmanship.