‘FDA Approval’

Charging the price of an expensive car for a garden-variety amino acid, one we eat every day.

A year ago, the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) approved a “drug” called Endari to treat sickle cell disease, which afflicts about 100,000 Americans of African descent and around 25 million more outside the US. Price tag: $28,000 a year.

So what is Endari? Anything approved by the FDA legally becomes a “drug.” But some have noted this “drug” is just a higher dose of L-glutamine, a common amino ac...