Washington, D.C. (March 17, 2016) -- Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) issued the following statement on the FDA and NIH Workforce Authorities Modernization Act:

“To fulfill its central mission of protecting public health by fostering timely patient access to safe and effective new medicines, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs the ability to hire and retain sufficient numbers and types of technical and scientific experts to efficiently conduct reviews of human drug applications.

“While we are still reviewing the language in the Senate bill, we support enhanced hiring authority at the FDA as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“PhRMA’s recently announced policy solutions for delivering innovative treatments to patients include a focus on modernizing the drug discovery and development process. Allowing FDA sufficient and efficient hiring authority to attract and retain a strong scientific workforce, including biostatisticians, pharmacologists and geneticists is critical to ensuring the Agency’s success.

“Enhanced FDA hiring authority would allow for timely onboarding of new recruits and ensure the Agency’s access to needed scientific expertise.” 

About PhRMA
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country’s leading innovative biopharmaceutical research companies, which are devoted to discovering and developing medicines that enable patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. Since 2000, PhRMA member companies have invested more than $900 billion in the search for new treatments and cures, including an estimated $79.6 billion in 2018 alone.

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