The FDA is not only related to it, but quite central. The main expense in drug development is getting through the FDA approval process.

No, not really.

The main expense is proving your drug works. It’s not really fair to describe that as incurred by FDA regs.

And in any case: drugs are (surprisingly) not a major driver of healthcare costs in the US.

The things that are uniquely costly in American healthcare are administrative overhead and doctors + nurses.

Go read KFF reporting on it.