Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock is asking that the agency be given new powers and more funding to prevent medical device shortages in the future, whether during an emergency or not, reports MedTech Dive.
In addition to $21.6 million for a shortage prevention program, part of the agency’s fiscal year 2022 budget request, Woodcock wants Congress to give FDA “expanded authority to obtain supply disruption notifications for critical devices any time there is the potential for a shortage.”
“The pandemic has exposed great weaknesses in the medical device supply chain and its dependence on foreign medical devices. To ensure the U.S. is properly prepared now, and in the future, we must take action to secure our medical device supply chain, including related materials, parts, and components. The FDA recognizes that this will take resources and expanded authority,” Woodcock wrote in the blog post.
Read more in MedTech Dive.
