Senate’s FDA Funding Bill Falls Short of What Was Requested
- By BSTQ Staff
In July, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2016 appropriations bill to fund the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) but at levels far below what President Obama requested. The bill provides FDA with $2.6 billion in discretionary funds, which is $107 million less than proposed. Combining that with user fees, total FDA funding will be $4.6 billion, an increase of $116 million over fiscal year 2015.
The Senate’s numbers are in line with those passed by the House Appropriations Committee. Under the House version, user fees for prescription drugs will increase from $78 million to $826 million, generic drug fees will increase from $312 million to $320 million, and biosimilars and biologicals will increase from $21 million to $21.5 million. A breakdown of user fees was not provided. The Senate bill also includes $3 million to combat antibiotic resistance and $2 million for the Precision Medicine Initiative ($12 million and $8 million less than requested, respectively).
