House Approves Blackburn Legislation to Help Combat Ebola

Statement

Congressman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) today applauded unanimous House passage of the Adding Ebola to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act, legislation she authored along with Senator Lamar Alexander in the Senate to help improve the process for U.S. companies working to develop vaccines and other therapies to protect Americans from the Ebola virus. Senator Alexander's bill passed the Senate on Tuesday and the legislation now goes to the President for his signature.

On November 18, 2014, Blackburn introduced H.R. 5729, which would add filoviruses to the list of diseases included in the Tropical Disease Priority Review Voucher Program at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The filovirus family includes all known strains of Ebola as well as the related Marburg virus. Joining Blackburn in introducing this bipartisan bill were Reps. Gene Green (TX-29), G. K. Butterfield (NC-01), Michael McCaul (TX-10), and Chuck Fleischmann (TN-03).

"Decreasing the time it takes for a company to bring a drug safely through the FDA to approval provides a great incentive for the development of other drugs, particularly those that have historically been neglected. I was pleased to be able to work with Senator Alexander on this important effort to help cut red tape for companies working to develop a vaccine to protect Americans from the Ebola Virus," Blackburn said. "We look forward to the President signing the bill into law.

"With nearly 15,000 cases and over 5,000 deaths, the 2014 Ebola epidemic is the worst since the discovery of the virus in 1976. In light of this global outbreak there should be an intensive effort to find and approve a treatment or better yet, a vaccine to prevent Ebola."

The Priority Review Voucher Program was authorized by Congress in 2007 to incentivize the development for neglected tropical diseases. Under this program, a company that receives approval for a tropical disease treatment is eligible to receive a voucher that allows the bearer to receive priority review status for any future product. Products undergoing priority review are generally given an approval decision within six months instead of the usual ten months.

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