Bill strengthens FDA tropical disease priority review voucher program to incentivize new cures

Charles J. Arntzen, PhD, Arizona Bioscience Researcher of the Year, was a key contributor in research that lead to the development of ZMapp, the ebola drug, developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. The experimental treatment that may have saved the lives of two Americans infected with the ebola virus grew from the pioneering efforts of researchers at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, led by Charles Arntzen. An ASU Regents’ Professor, Arntzen has spent more than two decades working on ways to better deliver and produce vaccines for human consumption.
“Every day, countless men and woman at biotechnology companies across the globe are hard at work to develop preventative vaccines and therapeutic treatments which could help curb the Ebola crisis and prevent future outbreaks,” shared BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood. “The Adding Ebola to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act would further encourage these efforts, not only for Ebola, but also for other devastating diseases. The Act strengthens the tropical disease priority review voucher program in several important respects, increasing the value of the vouchers and spurring the development of products to treat or prevent qualifying diseases.”