R&D Reclassified from Expense to Investment and more

Advocacy at a Glance offers you the bullet point summary of current advocacy issues associated with the goals of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA.

  • Join Us on August 15 to Meet Key Leaders of FDA’s International Programs. The Alliance is pleased that Lou Valdez, head of international programs, Altaf Lal, head of FDA’s India Office, and Chris Hickey, head of FDA’s China Office, will provide a presentation on FDA’s priorities in India and China. Lou and Altaf will join us in person, and we will videostream Chris in from China. Come join us for what promises to be a very interesting event. The program will start at 9:00 a.m. on August 15, and we will have a short, informal, reception afterwards.

  • R&D Reclassified from Expense to Investment. The Bureau of Economic Analysis has reclassified research and development costs from an "expense" to an "investment" when calculating GDP. Research!America brought this to our attention and is also urging Members of Congress to think the same way when doing the federal budget and appropriations bills. In general conversation, we all talk about R&D as an investment, but it isn’t accounted for that way on the federal books. The arguments to do so are now further bolstered by the BEA’s decision.

  • Potential Change in House GOP Attitude Toward Sequester’s Impact on Non-Defense Discretionary Spending? Late last week, as Congress came to a close for the August recess, Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers vented some frustration on the fact that his committee, which represents one-third of federal spending, was having to bear most of the brunt of federal cost reductions; and that mandatory spending, where the real growth in federal spending lies, was not as significantly impacted by the cuts. This was followed by House Majority Leader Cantor providing a suggestion that he would be okay with lessening the hit on discretionary spending in exchange for cuts on the mandatory side.

  • Alliance Meetings with FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. This week the Alliance met with members of the senior leadership teams at two of FDA Centers: the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). The purpose of each of the meetings was to help the Alliance better understand how resources are impacting each center’s ability to carry out its respective mission.

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