Price: User fees should cover full cost of product reviews

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are proceeding with user fee reauthorization legislation that reflects negotiations between industry and FDA, despite a proposal from HHS Secretary Tom Price that user fees cover 100% of medical product reviews.

In a letter sent Monday to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Price wrote that "the President's Budget Blueprint proposes to increase and restructure the medical product user fee programs at FDA to be 100 percent user fee supported programs, with no funding triggers that require budget authority financing." Price's letter mirrors suggested increases in user fees outlined in the Trump administration’s budget proposal (see BioCentury Extra, March 16)...