I can definitely sympathize with the activists who are trying to reform a slightly antiquated regulatory agency.
My only point was that there is always going to be a trade-off in these types of situations.
Most often, it involves assessing the potential damage a prescription drug may do, versus the potential benefit that may accrue to the wider society through its approval and dissemination.
I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't want to live in the 'Gilded Age', where patent medicines were the standard treatment for ailments like cancer, dropsy, colic, consumption, influenza etc., etc.
Stightly antiquated? If anything the thalidomide has been used for even MORE footdragging. It currently takes nearly TEN YEARS to jump a new drug though the FDA's hoops. And like I said, the FDA forces the drug companies to pass over drugs that might save the lives of just 1000 people per year because it would drive them into bankrupcy.