If it gets the funding it wants, the Food and Drug Administration will be spending $10 million next year to expand its inspection operations in China.
Nearly all of the increases to the agency’s $4.5 billion budget come from user fees paid by drug and device makers who want their products approved. But the president has also requested $10 million in new appropriations so that FDA can move 19 full-time employees abroad. Sixteen of them would be inspectors. According to Patrick McGarey, the agency’s assistant commissioner for budget, that total will include $4.4 million for food inspection and $5.6 million for inspection of drug plants. Read more here.
