Approval and other decisions in the lifecycle of a drug (it's entire fate basically) are made by committees and panels of physicians primarily. The FDA does it'

Approval and other decisions in the lifecycle of a drug (it's entire fate basically) are made by committees and panels of physicians primarily. The FDA does it's job well in my opinion and they use a panel system to make sure that no single pipeline / process ensnares a treatment: http://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/ http://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/