Patty Murray: “all of us in the Senate share the same goal of making sure the Food and Drug Administration stays as the gold standard…”

“all of us in the Senate share the same goal of making sure the Food and Drug Administration stays as the gold standard for drug safety and effectiveness, and the legislation that is before the Senate today moves us toward that goal. Throughout our country, researchers, scientists, and doctors are making 21st century medical advances, and the legislation we are looking at will ensure we have a 21st century FDA. It provides the resources, the authority, and the oversight to ensure that safe drugs move from the lab to our medicine cabinets without delay. Like other Members of the Senate, I worked on the FDA reforms back in the 1990s. Those reforms responded to the challenges we faced then. The bill before us now responds to the challenges we face today. In recent years, we have seen a lot of problems at the FDA with drug approval and postmarket surveillance. The bill we have addresses those challenges and ensures the FDA has the resources and the tools to promptly and thoroughly review new drugs and medical devices. The bill reauthorizes and improves two pieces of legislation that will be critical in providing a timely review process. It creates a new system to actively monitor drugs after they have been approved by the FDA. It strengthens science at the FDA and, importantly, improves transparency. It improves oversight and information about clinical trials, and it works to prevent potential conflicts of interest among advisory committee members.”