I seem to remember reading somewhere that many other national drug regulation authorities do tend to (unofficially) drag the chain until the US FDA formally approves new drugs.
Apparently its not particularly common for a drug to achieve major international acceptance before it gets US clearance.
I may simply be remembering some of the excellent material Fforrest and Ridge have posted over the years on this point however as I cannot recall the actual source.
Cheers,
CST Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held