A Law to Help Neglected Diseases is Giving Billion-Dollar Drugs Government Freebies.

An article from Bloomberg discusses a program called priority review vouchers, which were introduced by Congress in 2007 to incentivize companies to develop drugs for neglected diseases. The vouchers can be used to expedite the FDA review process for future drugs or sold for a significant amount of money. However, the program has been criticized for granting vouchers to drugs that would have been developed anyway and for benefiting big pharmaceutical companies. The article also highlights other controversial FDA programs that allow drugs to be approved without sufficient evidence of their effectiveness. The voucher program has not increased the number of new drugs for neglected diseases entering human trials, according to studies. While the voucher system has some flaws, lawmakers support it as a way to support research without using taxpayer dollars. The article provides examples of companies that have received vouchers and their use or sale. [Extracted from the article]