I am not a huge fan of PDUFA. It puts the wrong cast on things. Fees are something I pay for a service, and it should put me in the driver’s seat (well except for airlines and everyone hates that). We tax for government services. Making the FDA dependent on pharma creates an imbalance in power that quite frankly shouldn’t exist.
The extent of statutorily required industry input in the drug regulation and reauthorization processes has increased as a result of the PDUFA reauthorization. The centrality of user fees to the modern FDA has led some observers to express concern that they have contributed to “corrosive capture” of the agency (i.e., a weakening of regulatory independence and of the ability of the agency to uphold traditional efficacy and safety standards) by shaping discourse about how drugs should be regulated or by enabling an unhealthy culture of closeness between the FDA and industry. Each successive PDUFA has required the FDA to be increasingly responsive to industry concerns.
The FDA plays a crucial role in protecting the health of the public while approving new treatments in a timely fashion. Thirty years of experience with user fees has shown that, in the face of inadequate public funding of the personnel budget of the FDA, increased funding by its egulated industries can indeed improve regulatory timelines. This increased speed has also raised questions related to the decisions being made and the growing reliance of the agency on financial support from the companies it regulates, as the user-fee model has fundamentally changed the way that the FDA interacts with industry. In a different political climate, adequate public funding in place of user fees would allow the FDA to continue its current performance levels while adding further confidence that the public remains the primary client of the FDA.
Investigations of a Dog 