While the US Food and Drug Administration has been working to speed up the time it takes for drugs to garner approval, Commissioner Margaret Hamburg says that the sequester may slow those efforts, the Boston Herald reports. Speaking to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council annual meeting attendees, Hamburg added that she would like Congress to allow FDA to access the user fees it collects to pay for its operating costs.
She added, according to the Boston Globe, that it was too early to determine the full effect of the sequester on FDA, but it is going to be "significantly under the budget knife." Further she said that "sequestration has added an unexpected burden to us at a critical time."