Or, actually, one of many problems. When asked specifically how his wife's illness had changed his work at the F.D.A., Dr. Pazdur said he was intent on making decisions more quickly.

“Human gene therapy” has been one of the most ambitious goals of biotechnology since the advent of molecular techniques for genetic modification in the 1970’s. There are two distinct approaches to it, and they present different kinds of benefits, risks and controversies.

The best scholarly analyses of the Affordable Care Act suggest that it’s neither the triumph trumpeted by its proponents nor the disaster suggested by its critics.

The debate over, and eventual enactment of, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) brought to the surface of American politics a long-standing divide over the proper orientation of health care policy. On one side are those who tend to promote more federal control and government regulation over insurance markets and the organizations delivering services to patients.