Sep 23, 2022 - Health

Deal reached to renew funding for key FDA programs

Sen. Richard Burr speaks to Sen. Patty Murray before a Senate committee hearing to examine the federal response to COVID-19 on Jan. 11. Photo: Greg Nash/Pool/AFP

Senate and House health committee leaders on Thursday reached an agreement to renew programs that fund key Food and Drug Administration programs for another five years.

Why it matters: Without congressional action by the end of the month, the FDA would have started sending out furlough notices to staff and slowed down critical work like drug approvals.

The deal covers user fees that industries pay to fund drug, device and other product evaluations and is due to be attached to a stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded into December.

Details: The agreement tracks with Republicans' wishes for a "clean" bill without policy changes that would have increased FDA oversight of dietary supplements, cosmetics, infant formula and lab-developed tests, and would have tweaked a controversial fast-track drug approval process.

The big picture: Those items might have to wait until the next Congress, assuming Democrats and Republicans can find common ground.

Don't forget: A 2019 Pew Charitable Trusts survey found strong public support for requiring supplement manufacturers to give the FDA a list of products they make and their ingredients.

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Deal reached to renew funding for key FDA programs

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