Legislation aimed at promoting drug safety, economic development
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ second bill passed the House of Representatives today with strong bipartisan support.
The Safe and Effective Drug Development Act of 2007 will enable the Food and Drug Administration to partner with universities and non-profit organizations in an effort to get potentially life-saving drugs to consumers faster and more safely.
Over the past decade, U.S. pharmaceutical research and development spending has soared 250 percent and the budget for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health has doubled. Yet innovation has stagnated as drugs become more complicated, and the number of new drugs submitted to the FDA for approval has declined by almost 50 percent.
In 2004, the FDA identified 76 specific problems that have caused critical delays in medical innovation. Giffords’ bill addresses these problems by expanding public-private partnerships between the FDA, non-profits and academic institutions such as the University of Arizona.
“These partnerships help solve the problems that stand between new biomedical discoveries, and how quickly and safely those discoveries are translated to consumers,” said Giffords, a member of the House Science and Technology Committee.
The Critical Path Institute in Tucson is an example of a public-private FDA partnership that will be able to expand its work on drug safety under the new legislation. This, in turn, will bring more high-tech jobs to Tucson and assist in building a strong biotech industry in Southern Arizona.
“Innovation and collaboration is needed,” Giffords added. “Private industry and the federal government are spending more money on research, but we are not getting the results we need – safe, life-saving and less costly medications for Americans. This situation needs to change.”
Giffords’ first bill, the Stop Arming Iran Act, passed the House on June 11.