Congress Approve Bill To Fund Zika Drug Development

Congress recently approved a bill to provide financial incentives to companies that are developing treatments for the dreaded Zika virus, and it is now on its way to getting signed by President Barack Obama.

The bill allows for the Food and Drug Administration to include Zika drug developers in their list in the priority review voucher program -- encouraging manufacturers to study treatments that might not be profitable by accelerating the review process of the more lucrative drugs they have on their pipeline.

It was passed on a voice vote and without a roll call, just weeks after the senate did so. White House spokeswoman Katie Hill said that the president is expected to sign the bill -- a small step that could encourage private companies in helping tackle Zika. Among the drugmakers that are already working on the drugs, or considering to do such research, include Sanofi SA, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd.

Reuters noted that developing new drugs can take years and cost companies millions of dollars. A standard FDA review will take at least 10 months to complete, or longer if there are additional information needed. Getting time shaved off the process to get a profitable drug on the market can be worth millions for a manufacturer as well.

However, the bill did not allocate for funding and is insufficient on its own as it does not provide the $1.9 billion that public health experts say is needed to prepare the country for the virus's imminent arrival. Still, the democrats and administration officials are already urging the Congress to grant the research its necessary funding. For now, however, the White House is granting a temporary fix of $589 million in allocated funds.

There have been 1,113 confirmed cases of microcephaly in Brazil, most of them considered to be related to Zika infections to the mother, and has already been declared by the World Health Organization as a global health emergency.