Trump budgets largest ever FDA spending increase

President Donald Trump's FY19 budget request proposes increasing FDA’s budget by $473 million, including $417 million in new outlays for medical products, over the FY18 budget. This is the largest budget authority appropriation increase in absolute dollars ever proposed for the agency, according to the Alliance for a Stronger FDA.

The increases include an additional $241 million for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), $131 million for the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) and $45 million for the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER).

A separate $63 million would be available for the Office of the Commissioner, the National Center for Toxicological Research and other FDA components that work on medical products oversight.

The Oncology Center of Excellence, launched in 2016, would receive $20 million in FY19. This would compensate for a drafting error in the 21st Century Cures Act that has sharply limited funding for the center.

The budget proposal emphasized an increasing investment in regulatory capacity for medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturing, as well as digital health technologies.

The proposal is a starting point for the lengthy congressional appropriations process. FDA’s final budget is likely to be substantially different from the budget request.