There are two things right now that get relatively bipartisan support in Washington, D.C. The first is that a major league baseball team in D.C. won a pennant for the first time since we stopped huddling around our radios for entertainment. [Editor’s note: The Nationals lost in the first round of the playoffs. Sorry, Michael.] The second item is more up our alley: Americans should not be the victims of drug shortages, and something needs to be done about it.

Help may be on the way: A Sept. 25, 2012, report from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) makes it clear that the council wants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand its use of faster drug approvals to a wider range of diseases. For starters, the advisors called for the agency to speed approval for drugs aimed at “special medical use” areas such as obesity.

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