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Washington, D.C. --- Forty-six members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a late last week to House appropriators urging that they increase funding for the Office of Generic Drugs by $15 million. The letter was sent to U.S. Reps. Henry Bonilla (R-TX), Chairman of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, and Rosa DeLauro, the subcommittee's ranking member. Text of the letter, which was sent on March 9, follows.
Dear Chairman Bonilla and Ranking Member DeLauro:
As you begin work on the fiscal year 2007 (FY07) Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations bill we urge you to increase funding for the Office of Generic Drugs by $15 million.
As you know, the high cost of prescription drugs is one of the most pressing health care issues presently confronting our country. In recent years, however, we have been able to slow the growth of prescription drug spending by increasing the use of lower-price generic drugs.
Increasing the proportion of drugs that are dispensed as generics could produce additional cost savings. Unfortunately, due to insufficient resources, the Office of Generic Drugs at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been unable to process all the generic drug applications it receives, thereby delaying access to affordable medicines. Indeed, a backlog of more than 800 applications presently exists at the Office of Generic Drugs. Increased funding for additional staff to review applications could help alleviate this backlog and accelerate the introduction of generic products.
Bringing generic drugs to market in a more timely fashion is an important tool in trying to reduce health care spending. Accordingly, we respectfully urge you to increase funding for the Office of Generic Drugs in the FY07 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations bill by $15 million. We greatly appreciate your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Henry Waxman (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), John D. Dingell (D-MI), Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Thomas H. Allen (D-ME), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Danny K. Davis (D-IL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Lois Capps (D-CA), Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Jim Davis (D-FL), Jan D. Schakowsky (D-IL), Albert Wynn (D-MD), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), George Miller (D-CA), Rick Larsen (D-WA), Robert Wexler (D-FL), Doris O. Matsui (D-CA), Barney Frank (D-MA), Jim McDermott (D-WA), John Conyers (D-MI), Gene Green (D-TX), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Michael R. McNulty (D-NY), James L. Oberstar (D-MN), Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA), Hilda L. Solis (D-CA), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Betty McCollum (D-MN), William Jefferson (D-LA), Howard L. Berman (D-CA), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Major Owens (D-NY), Al Green (D-TX), Phil English (R-PA), Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D-FL), Brian Higgins (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Adam Smith (D-WA), Bernard Sanders (D-VT), Lane Evans (D-IL) and James P. McGovern (D-MA). |
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