The FDA is setting records for the number and speed of its generic drug approvals. The approvals could help lower the prices of some drugs by introducing new competition.

What the data say:

The FDA fully approved 781 generic drugs in fiscal year 2018, according to an analysis by PwC’s Health Research Institute (HRI). That’s 90.0 percent more than in fiscal year 2014, the first year the Generic Drug User Fee Act was in full effect, when it approved 409.