"Even the original beta blocker (propranolol) wasn't allowed to be used for angina or hypertension until 1978, 13 years after it had been approved in Europe. Th

"Even the original beta blocker (propranolol) wasn't allowed to be used for angina or hypertension until 1978, 13 years after it had been approved in Europe. That delay likely killed more than 100,000 people." I was unaware that propranolol was approved as late as that in the US. This seems very strange as Sir James Black's work on propranolol was widely known and he was widely respected before he was knighted and awarded the Nobel Prize for his work with both propranolol and cimetidine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_W._Black https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_W._Black Why on earth did the FDA take so long to approve it given that there was no other beta blocker available at the time? (Thus, the hypertension issue could easily have been perceived as a crisis even allowing propranolol to be, say, approved on a temporary basis much earlier on.) Looking at the FDA's record of approvals, it's hard to see any consistent granularity in its approach. I'm curious as to why this may be the case.