Since 2007, FDA has been issuing priority review vouchers for pharmaceutical products. In 2015 the newest priority review vouchers to focus on reducing time and cost of drug development. Developing a new drug takes a lot of time and money. In the United States, about every 1 in 10 drugs that reach the phase 1 clinical stage, get approved. Even if a drug does get approved it can take up to a year or more to receive the funding or find patients for clinical studies.

The reason for these vouchers is to spur drug development. The vouchers give a company the ability to have a drug reviewed under FDA’s priority review system. Ultimately these vouchers could lead to finding new drugs or a cure for many diseases, particularly rare or difficult to treat diseases.

To read more, check out Alexander Gaffney’s priority review vouchers article at www.raps.org and click here.