Senate Bill to Reauthorize Pediatric Voucher Program

Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) have introduced the Creating Hope Reauthorization Act (S 4010) that would permanently reauthorize FDA’s rare priority pediatric voucher program. The current voucher program is set to expire 9/30. The program has netted 22 novel therapies for seriously ill children, and provided over $1 billion in incentives for companies to develop rare pediatric disease drugs, according to advocacy group Kids V Cancer.

The voucher program supports the development of new drugs for seriously ill children, including children with cancer, by providing a voucher to pharmaceutical companies that develop such drugs. Vouchers can be used to expedite FDA approval for any other future drug, which allows those future drugs to reach markets faster, the group says.

In the House, the Creating Hope Reauthorization Act (HR 4439) was introduced 9/2019.