House subcommittee cuts FDA budget

The House Appropriation's Committee's Agriculture subcommittee passed an FY12 budget on Tuesday that reduces overall FDA spending by 11.5% and lowers appropriations for drugs and biologics oversight.

The House bill appropriates $416 million for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for FY12, which is $82 million less than the Obama administration requested and $62 million less than was appropriated for FY11, according to an analysis by the Alliance for a Stronger FDA, a stakeholder group that lobbies for increased FDA funding. The bill sets the FY12 Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research budget at $185 million, $40 million below the administration's request and $28 million below the FY11 spending level. ...