AstraZeneca urges to increase funds for FDA fiscal year 2012 budget

AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) urged the Obama Administration to increase funding for the Food and Drug Administration's fiscal year 2012 budget by 20 percent to help the agency effectively manage a growing list of complex public health responsibilities.

“We remain committed to doing what we can to help the FDA meet its needs”

"We remain committed to doing what we can to help the FDA meet its needs," Rich Fante, President AstraZeneca US, wrote in a letter to Health Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "But we believe Congress and the President must support this critical need as well by providing the funding the FDA requires to fulfill its mission."

In supporting an increase in funding for the agency, AstraZeneca seeks to ensure the agency has the resources it needs to effectively oversee the quality and safety of medical treatments, cosmetics and the food supply, while also taking on such serious threats as bioterrorism, the H1N1 influenza virus and other public health emergencies.