Partner David Rosen was quoted in an Inside Health Policy article, “Approps Committees To Shift As Fiscal 2021 Funding Hangs In Balance,” about how House appropriators might get the chance to rethink funding priorities for the FDA in the wake of upcoming committee changes resulting from last week’s election.
Rosen, co-chair of the firm’s Life Sciences Industry Team, said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who is vying to succeed retiring Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) as chair of the House Appropriations Committee, would likely focus on strengthening the FDA. “[DeLauro] is very dedicated and engaged in the FDA process and I think that she wants to have a strong FDA, and she wants to have access and availability of product, and I think she’s dedicated to that,” he said. “So, I think that she’d be very good if she comes in as the Appropriations Committee Chair.”
If Republicans keep control of the Senate, Rosen said, they would likely spend less money and invest less in compliance and enforcement, though ensuring that the FDA has appropriate resources to review applications in a timely manner, especially during a pandemic, is a high priority for both sides. “The Republicans say they like to spend less money, but the budget is pretty high, and we’ve seen a lot of issues associated with COVID-19. I just don’t know when those things are going away,” he said. “I think in either case we’re going to see people continue to develop products [for] COVID-19 and getting the pandemic under control is really important to both parties.”
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