Congress passes bill giving $1.73 billion to FDA

WASHINGTON Congress last week passed a consolidated appropriations bill, giving, among other things, nearly $1.73 billion to the Food and Drug Administration, more than $79 million over the president’s budget request.

In addition, the bill also gives the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research more than $682 million, of which $41.9 million is available for the Office of Generic Drugs, while the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research would receive more than $236 million.

On Dec. 17, the House passed H.R. 2764 by a vote of 214–189, and the following day, the Senate passed a revised version by a vote of 76–17, The House agreed to send the revised version to the president, increasing 2007’s FDA funding by $145 million.

In addition, the committees encouraged the FDA to limit “to the greatest extent possible” granting financial conflict-of-interest waivers to advisory committee members, which has been a hot topic recently. While the committees were encouraged by the FDA’s announcement earlier this year that it would limit the number of waivers, they said the agency should do more.