Over 50 new drugs or treatments were approved in 2023 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), representing over a 45 percent increase over 2022. This marks the highest number of approvals by the agency since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The FDA approved 37 drugs in 2022, a drastic reduction from 51 approvals in 2021, 53 in 2020, 48 in 2019, and a peak of 59 in 2018. The last time the agency hit such a low was in 2016, when it approved just 22 new drugs.
