House Approves User-Fee Legislation

A bill to reauthorize and expand the Food and Drug Administration's user-fee programs easily passed the House of Representatives 387-5 Wednesday evening.

The program allows the agency to collect fees from the healthcare sectors it regulates in exchange for agreeing to meet certain performance goals related to timely consideration of their product marketing applications. Federal law requires reauthorization of the user-fee programs every five years.

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Source: ModernHealthcare.com

The measure was amended from a version that the Energy and Commerce Committee approved earlier in May to accelerate the availability of generics. The change to the bill would reduce the federal deficit by $340 million over 10 years, instead of adding $247 million to the deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office.