AstraZeneca has called on President Barack Obama to put much more cash into the US Food and Drug Administration in order to help the regulator function more effectively.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has urged the Obama Administration to increase funding for the FDA’s 2012 budget by 20% to help the agency “effectively manage a growing list of complex public health responsibilities”. In a letter to Health Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Rich Fante, president of AstraZeneca in the USA, said “we remain committed to doing what we can to help the FDA meet its needs”.
However, he added that the company feels that the US Congress and the president “must support this critical need as well by providing the funding the FDA requires to fulfill its mission.” AstraZeneca said the agency needs more resources “to effectively oversee the quality and safety of medical treatments, cosmetics and the food supply, while also taking on such serious threats as bioterrorism, the H1N1 influenza virus and other public health emergencies”.
In July, the US Senate appropriation committee’s proposed funding for FDA for 2011 was set at around $2.50 billion, a $159 million increase above the 2010 level and the same amount as requested by President Obama. AstraZeneca is a founding member of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA, a coalition of over 180 patient, consumer and health professional groups. plus industry.
