Senate OKs FDA Bill, Medical Device User Fees

With a vote of 96-1, the US Senate passed the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, reports Politico. The bill extends the Medical Device User Fee Act, which is set to expire at the end of September. Passage of the new bill will allow FDA to increase the user fees it receives from drug and medical device makers to pay, as well as create, new fee programs for generic and biologic drugs. MedPage Today adds that the new medical device agreement will double the user fees FDA collects, as it will bring in $595 million in user fees between 2013 and 2017. The House of Representatives is to take up a similar version of the bill as early as this week, The New York Times adds.

The Sample's sister publication GenomeWeb Daily News has more on the bill here.