MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Medtech industry lobbying group AdvaMed offered high praise for the federal government’s 2014 omnibus appropriations legislation, which restored important funding for the FDA.
The bill returned to the agency about $85 million in collected user fees that had been locked away due to the federal sequester, funds that medical device and drug companies pay for applications for FDA review.
"User fees are part of an agreement between industry, FDA and Congress under which industry agrees to supplement FDA’s appropriated budget, and the agency agrees to performance commitments designed to increase the efficiency and predictability of the review process," AdvaMed president & CEO Stephen Ubl said in prepared remarks. "Restoring these user fee funds upholds that agreement."
Ubl added that he plans to work with Congress to remove user fees from future sequestrations.
The legislation also restores FDA’s budget to pre-sequestration levels, providing $91 million more in the FDA’s budget for FY 2014 than had been granted in 2013.
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