Senate bill would create FDA cancer institute

U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced a (see BioCentury, March 7).

The FDA and NIH Workforce Authorities Modernization Act directs FDA to create one or more Intercenter Institutes to "develop and implement processes for coordination of activities" between the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Each institute would aim to streamline product reviews, including for combination products, and enhance "interactions of the Centers with patients, sponsors, and the external biomedical community" in a disease area. The first would be created within about two years after enactment. ...