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# Bill to Add Zika to Priority Review Voucher
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/bill-to-add-zika-to-priority-review-voucher/
- Published: 2016-02-09T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T02:34:31.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5134711

> Four senators have introduced bipartisan legislation to add Zika to the FDA Priority Review Voucher (PRV) program that encourages development of treatments for neglected tropical diseases. The measure is sponsored by Sens. **Al Franken** (D-MN), **Bill Nelson** (D-FL), **Johnny Isakson** (R-GA), and **Sherrod Brown** (D-OH). They also have written to HHS secretary **Sylvia Burwell** asking that she order inclusion of Zika in the PRV.  
>  
> “The Zika virus has spread rapidly, and I believe we need to make an effort to develop new strategies for preventing and treating it,” Franken says. “Our bipartisan bill will speed up the development and approval of a vaccine or medical treatment. This is a commonsense measure that will encourage innovators to develop an effective treatment for Zika.”  
>  
> In their 2/5 [letter](http://www.franken.senate.gov/files/letter/160205%5FHHS%5FZika%5FLetter.pdf?ref=fdaweb.com) to Burwell, the four said that under the PRV program, companies that develop a product that can be used for the prevention or treatment of an eligible tropical disease may receive a voucher from FDA that can be used to obtain priority agency review of a NDA for a second product, or can be sold to another company for use on one of its products.  
>  
> The law creating the program specified a list of eligible infectious diseases. Congress added Ebola to the list in 2014 and gave the HHS secretary authority to order new diseases added. The letter says that Burwell used her authority last summer when she added Chagas and neurocysticercosis to the voucher program.  
>  
> “We ask that in the face of this public health emergency you do the same for the Zika virus to encourage development of products to treat or prevent infection with the Zika virus,” the senators concluded in their letter.