Proposed US budget for 2018 sees rise in FDA user fees to over $2 billion

Under US President Donald Trump's proposed budget for 2018 released Thursday, the FDA would collect more than $2 billion in fees from industries that use its services, including pharmaceutical companies. The proposal said that industries that benefit from the agency's approval "can and should pay for their share," citing a constrained budget environment.

Since 1992, the FDA has charged companies to review their products, with most user fees collected from drugmakers. This year, fees for prescription medicines collected by the regulator are estimated at around $866 million, while fees from generic drugs are predicted to be about $324 million.

In return for the increase in fees, the proposed budget would also offer measures that would help speed up the approval process for new drugs and other products, although no details were provided. The budget outline also calls for funding for the National Institutes of Health to be cut by $5.8 billion, or close to 20 percent.

Earlier this year, Trump outlined his goal of speeding up FDA approval of new drugs, calling the current process "slow and burdensome." More recently, The White House confirmed that former FDA deputy commissioner Scott Gottlieb has been selected by Trump to lead the agency (for related analysis, see ViewPoints: Trump eschews unpredictability by tapping Gottlieb to head FDA).