Budget and staffing cuts at the Food and Drug Administration orchestrated by President Donald Trump could prevent new drugs “from being developed, approved, or commercialized in a timely manner, or at all,” according to dozens of annual reports sent by pharmaceutical companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission in late February. “The Trump Administration has enacted several executive actions that could impose significant burdens on, or otherwise materially delay, the FDA’s ability to engage in routine regulatory and oversight activities,” says one filing from Xenon Pharmaceuticals, a company based in Canada that researches treatments for epilepsy. “If these executive actions impose constraints on the FDA’s ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively affected.” In February, Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency laid off hundreds of FDA employees, causing widespread panic about the status of grant applications, active clinical trials, and drug approvals. Just over a week later, it reinstated a handful of staffers who regulate the American food supply and review medical devices. The …