The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved 17 percent fewer "first-of-a-kind" drugs in 2013 than in 2012, according to an ABC News report.
The number of drug approvals may have gone down simply because fewer drugs were submitted for approval, according to the report, which says there were 32 applications for innovative medications in 2013, compared with 41 applications in 2012.
In 2012, 39 of the 41 drugs were approved, the highest number of drug approvals in the last 15 years, according to the report.
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