A bipartisan pair of senators on Tuesday say they’re drafting legislation to speed the development of treatments and vaccines for Ebola.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the panel’s top Republican, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, said Tuesday their bill would add Ebola to the Food and Drug Administration’s priority review “voucher” program, which is designed to incentivize the development of new drugs for certain tropical diseases.
Under the program, drug makers are given expedited review status by the FDA for the development of “neglected” tropical diseases. Ebola isn’t considered a qualifying disease under current law, so potential developers of Ebola treatments and vaccines don’t qualify for the program.
The senators say they’ll introduced the measure when Congress reconvenes after next Tuesday’s mid-term elections.
“When enacted, as I hope it will be, this legislation will strengthen our response to Ebola and help innovators to continue their work to develop Ebola treatments and vaccines,” Harkin said. “I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this bill and continuing to invest in the public health agencies on the front lines of the U.S. response to Ebola.”
The pharmaceutical industry has been accused of failing to develop a vaccine against Ebola on the grounds it wouldn’t be as profitable as other drugs. But Alexander said the senators’ measure would be a key tool to encourage the development of necessary but unprofitable drugs by offering a reward for drug makers “who invest the time and resources to develop drugs to treat, and hopefully cure, Ebola.”
“The world is in desperate need of a vaccine to prevent Ebola and a drug to treat it,” Alexander said.
