Recent news
March 2011
Bill introduced in Senate to amend FDA’s priority review voucher program
March 29, 2011 -- Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) recently introduced the Creating Hope Act of 2011 to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The bill would make key changes to the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) priority review voucher (PRV) program, which aims to spur research and development for neglected diseases. The bill would expand the PRV program to include rare pediatric diseases, and address issues such as the limit on voucher transferability and the rules around how to use and transfer a voucher. According to a blog post by Andrew Robertson, chief policy officer at Bio Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) and a member of the Global Health Technologies Coalition steering committee, these “fixes are what industry has touted as some barriers to engaging with the program. With these fixes, the program can be developed into an incentive that makes it possible for companies to work on needed products for which there is not a compelling market draw.”
The Creating Hope Act is cosponsored by Senators Scott Brown (R-MA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Al Franken (D-MN), and Johnny Isakson (R-GA). “Millions of Americans are affected by rare diseases and neglected conditions for which there is currently no hope because there is no treatment,” Senator Casey said. He added, “The Creating Hope Act brings light where there is now only darkness by providing an incentive, at no cost to taxpayers, to develop treatments for these illnesses. The broad support for this legislation speaks to the need to solve this problem.” See the links below for more information.
