Hi everybody and welcome to Open to Debate, I'm John Don Van and you have no doubt heard

of the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, which has a long history way back to the

days of Teddy Roosevelt, the agency that guarantees the safety of products we put in our bodies.

They've probably saved an awful lot of lives over the decades just by insisting on caution.

But now remember in the pandemic, there was an emergency unfolding and there were vaccines

being rushed into existence and even though the FDA did speed up the usual approval process,

it was still criticized for moving too slowly in some aspects of that.

That is a frequent pressure point for the FDA that in wanting to keep us all safe, it

is accused of getting in the way of innovation and blocking people from getting drugs in time.

There is a real push and pull here in achieving a balance between safety and urgency.

And that's what this debate is all about.

We're in front of a live audience in Aspen, Colorado at Aspen Ideas Health, debating

this question is the FDA too conscious.

So let's meet our debaters.

Arguing that the answer to that question is yes, that the FDA is too conscious, CEO and

co-founder of ITIA, an innovative health AI company that is aimed at discovering the

next generation of breakthrough drugs, please welcome to the stage Colin Hill.

Welcome Colin, thank you.

Have a seat.

And arguing that the answer to that question is no, that the FDA is not too cautious, physician

and president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and a former associate

commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration himself, Peter Laurie.

...