Ebola Voucher Bill Clears Senate, on Course to Become Law
The US Senate has passed legislation that would overhaul the Neglected Tropical Disease Priority Review Voucher (PRV) system in the hopes of making it more enticing to pharmaceutical companies, and in particular those developing new treatments for the Ebola virus.
S.2917, the Adding Ebola to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act, passed the US Senate by unanimous consent on 2 December 2013.
"Today the Senate took a strong step to support that mission by passing this bipartisan bill to incentivize the development of Ebola treatments and vaccines," Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said in a statement. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said he hoped the bill would "one day help lead to a cure" for Ebola.
For a complete explanation of the Ebola voucher reform bill, please see our explainer article here,
The bill now goes to the US House of Representatives, where an identical piece of legislation, H.R. 5729, was introduced on 18 November 2014 and already enjoys bipartisan support. If passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the full House of Representatives, the bill would then be sent to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it.
In a blog post in November 2014, Obama's Ebola czar, Ron Klain, called the bill "encouraging" and said it was a welcomed bipartisan effort against the threat of Ebola.