FDA - Crisis or Research Drought?

There were some Congressional hearings last week regarding the state of the FDA.

The New York Times calls the FDA an agency in crisis, lacking funds and talent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/opinion/03sun1.html?em&ex=1202274000&en=a7ef53c3b05c12ac&ei=5070

USAToday gives us the perspective that the lack of new therapies being approved by the FDA is caused by a drought in drug research.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2008-02-03-fda-drugs_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

This is reminiscent of the Great Taste vs. Less Filling ads that we used to see on Superbowl Sunday. Both answers are right. It's simply a matter of perspective when it comes to beer. When it comes to ALS, it's simply a matter of life and death.

A person with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has no effective therapies... even therapies that are risky long-shots but might cure or stop the disease. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Nil. Zilch. Talk about outrageous!

Eleanor Gehrig used to pick greens in Central Park to supplement Lou's diet because there was a theory in 1940 that vitamin E may help ALS. Today people with ALS often take vitamin E supplements because they hear a 2008 theory on the internet that vitamin E may help ALS.

Surely the FDA and our pharmaceutical corporations can deliver something better than vitamin E theories after all these years. Please. It's not just the other guy's problem.