In light of the widespread Zika Virus going on in different parts of the world, the U.S. Congress have responded in aiding a Zika drug development through the approval of a bill. The bill will be providing financial incentives for companies that will be pursuing a Zika drug development.
Furthermore, the Zika disease will now be placed under the list of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) priority review voucher program, as per Reuters. This is done through the bill that was previously approved by the Senate last month and was also approved by the House of Representatives earlier this week.
The said bill, which gives aid to not only to people who are already infected by the virus, will also be a countermeasure for those who have not been in contact especially in the United States. In fact, the bill is now under its final stages which is the anticipated signed approval from U.S. President Barack Obama.
The bill, which is initially for drug makers like Sanofi SA, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. and others who are taking the time for research and development of a Zika virus drug will be given a priority review voucher.
This voucher will give pharmaceutical companies an accelerated review by the FDA and will speed up the process from less than a year to just six months, the publication adds. Meanwhile, although it may seem like a perfectly finished bill, some critics however reveal that the bill is not yet ready and was rushed so that the Zika drug development could kick off.
"But it contains no funding and is ultimately insufficient on its own, since it doesn't provide the $1.9 billion in funding that our public health experts have said is needed right now to prepare Americans for the imminent local transmission of Zika in this country," White House spokeswoman Katie Hill said in a statement, as per the news agency.
However, despite the insufficient funding as of current, the U.S. Congress sees the bill as a great step towards protecting its citizens and aiding those that have been greatly affected. "Hopefully this small step forward suggests that Congress is now prepared to take on the much more meaningful measures needed to protect Americans from this virus," the White House said in a statement, as per CBS News.
According to Reuters, the most recent numbers include 1,113 cases of microcephaly in Brazil which is considered caused by the Zika infections in the mother to her unborn child.
