The Hill (01/12/12) Pecquet, Julian
House Republicans have announced a slew of hearings on health industry fees aimed at speeding up federal regulators' review of new medicines before they can go to market. The Energy and Commerce health subcommittee will kick things off on Feb. 1 with a hearing on the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, which expires Sept. 30. On Feb. 7 the panel has scheduled a hearing on a new proposed user fee on generic drugs and biosimilars, which aims to bring in more funds to help alleviate the FDA's backlog of generic drug applications. And on Feb. 15, the subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on the reauthorization of the Medical Device User Fee Act, which also expires Sept. 30.

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