FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ann-Marie White
Heart Rhythm Society
202-464-3476
awhite@hrsonline.org

The Heart Rhythm Society applauds members of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, led by Chairman Herbert Kohl and Ranking Member Robert Bennett, for their efforts to increase the Food and Drug Administration’s budget.

On Tuesday, the Subcommittee proposed increasing the FDA’s budget by $186 million, including $48.4 million in new funding for the food programs and $33.2 million for the Critical Path Initiative and drug safety measures. The Subcommittee’s bill is $122 million above the President’s budget proposal and more than $70 million above the House subcommittee’s proposal. Senators Kohl and Bennett’s bill represents the most significant increase in the FDA’s budget in recent memory.

The Subcommittee’s actions will add significant new funds for ensuring quicker approval of safe and effective drugs and devices. The additional resources proposed by Senators Kohl and Bennett can go towards much needed improvements to the post-market surveillance process of life-saving medical devices as outlined in the Heart Rhythm Society’s “Device Performance Recommendations for Pacemakers and Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs).” The additional funding will enable the FDA to enhance the existing databases to more readily identify devices that may pose a danger to patients and would allow the FDA to establish post-market surveillance advisory panels of independent expert advisors to assist the FDA with this function.

“These additional resources can lead to greater transparency in post-market surveillance, analysis, and reporting of information,” said Dr. Bruce D. Lindsay, president of the Heart Rhythm Society. “The Heart Rhythm Society commends Senators Kohl and Bennett for ensuring patient safety and access to life-saving device therapies.”

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About the Heart Rhythm Society
The Heart Rhythm Society is the international leader in science, education and advocacy for cardiac arrhythmia professionals and patients, and the primary information resource on heart rhythm disorders. Its mission is to improve the care of patients by promoting research, education and optimal health care policies and standards. Incorporated in 1979 and based in Washington, DC, it has a membership of over 4,000 heart rhythm professionals in more than 60 countries around the world.