#ScienceWorks Ambassadors across the country are celebrating the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) which Congress passed and the President signed into law just before it expired. 

Millions of people in the U.S. rely on innovative medicines to improve their quality of life. And PDUFA helps ensure those breakthroughs in biopharmaceutical science receive timely and thorough consideration by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—so new drugs and treatments can become available to patients.

PDUFA is an essential tool in supporting the FDA in fulfilling its mission to protect and advance public health. For the last 30 years the PDUFA program has provided additional resources to FDA for the review of new drugs, while also providing sponsors with greater predictability and enhanced engagement with the Agency during drug development. By providing the FDA with stable and predictable funding that supplements Congressional appropriations, PDUFA helps bring new medicines to patients more quickly.

The PDUFA framework allows the US to lead the world in introduction to new medicines. Over the last five years, about 75% of novel drugs were approved in the U.S. before any other country and the FDA's drug review program remains the gold standard for regulatory review and approval around the world.

U.S. Senator Patty Murray (WA) used her position as Chair of the Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in shepherding the PDUFA reauthorization legislation through the U.S. Senate. She worked in a bipartisan way to ensure America's innovation ecosystem works for patients and that the pathway to safe and effective medicines was not imperiled by attempts to derail passage of this critical legislation. Her efforts to bring Democrats and Republicans together to focus on improving health outcomes for the American people is commendable.

Please join us in thanking U.S. Senator Patty Murray for fighting to keep science working for all of us!