There is even the possibility--though no drug maker will commit to it--that savings will be passed on to the consumer in terms of lower prices on pharmacy shelves.
The new legislation, aimed at clearing the logjam of drugs waiting for approval at FDA, requires pharmaceutical firms to pay $330 million in user fees directly to the agency over the next five years.
With the additional reviewers these fees will provide, the agency has pledged to cut the time it takes to review new products in half by October 1997.
Testifying on the bill before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, Irwin Lerner, president and CEO of Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc., Nutley, N.J., commented: "It has been refreshing to see how well the private and public sector can work together for the public good."
But other observers, including some physicians and legislators, are uncomfortable with the close ties the bill ...