When the White House proposed a $1 billion startup fund for the National Cancer Moonshot, a largely unexpected directive to reform FDA raised many questions among oncology insiders.
Robert Califf, the nominee to serve as the next FDA commissioner, and other FDA leaders called for a broad plan to reassess the agency's approach to prescription opioid medications. The move comes as Senators block a vote on his confirmation for the top post.
Congress passed a $1.1 trillion government spending bill Friday morning, increasing the NIH budget by $2 billion. The measure now moves to the president's desk for approval.
NIH is slated to receive a $2 billion increase under the Senate appropriations bill, but only $1.1 billion under the House plan for the current 2016 fiscal year.
Ahead of a Capitol Hill hearing this week on the role of the FDA in the regulation of laboratory-developed tests, the federal agency published a report of 20 case studies that illustrated the possible harms presented to patients when laboratories do not comply with FDA requirements.
A group of 42 organizations sent an open letter to a congressional committee urging them to consider the important role of the FDA in the regulation of laboratory-developed tests.
Congress passed a two-year budget deal that would raise government spending as well as the debt ceiling.
If Congress passes another year-long, flat-funding resolution, the effect on NIH “would be simply devastating,” Director Francis Collins told a Senate appropriations subcommittee during a hearing Oct. 7.
Congress passed a continuing resolution Sept. 30—averting a shutdown—that will fund the federal government at current levels through Dec. 11.Funding for both NIH and NCI dipped slightly as part of a 0.21 percent cut to all non-defense discretionary agencies.
Sen. Tom Harkin introduced a bill that would set NIH on a path to recoup the purchasing power it has lost since 2003, and make funding biomedical research a national priority.
