FDA Drug Center Faces Layoff Notices If User Fee Deal Stalls (1)

FDA drug center staff will be the first to receive layoff warnings this month if the agency doesn’t quickly hear that congressional leaders are nearing an agreement to reauthorize the fees that help fund the agency, current and former officials warn.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert M. Califf has said the agency would need to start notifying “employees who are paid by user fees of impending personnel action” by the first week of September. The current user fee agreement expires Sept. 30, leaving Congress just weeks to muster a compromise that could win support from a key congressional negotiator ...