The House Appropriations agriculture subcommittee on Thursday (May 23) voted to send a fiscal 2020 funding bill that would give FDA a $184 million increase over its fiscal 2019 levels to the full committee.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals announced Wednesday that it will hear oral arguments in the high-prolife lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act, Texas v. Azar, on July 9.

The Senate health committee’s bipartisan legislative proposal would hold patients harmless for surprise bills and lays out three possible reimbursement options for those situations: benchmark rates that are similar to the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s solution; an “in-network guarantee” that is supported by employers; and an arbitration option, which hospitals and providers have backed.

FDA has once again officially delayed its planned release of a highly anticipated nonprescription drug proposed rule, although an FDA official said this week the agency hopes to get the rule out as soon as possible.

The Democratic sponsors of bipartisan Tobacco to 21 legislation in the Senate are urging Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to sign on as a co-sponsor rather than move forward with his recently introduced bill that also would raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21.

A drug industry lawyer and a drug regulation expert applauded a recent FDA draft guidance on the use of real-world evidence (RWE) and real-world data (RWD) in drug and biologics applications as a major step forward, but said questions remain related to data quality and informed consent.

The Senate health committee’s bipartisan draft bill on lowering health care costs does not expand the Trump administration’s point-of-sale rebate proposal to the commercial market, after Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said the proposal was being considered for inclusion.

Senate health committee leaders released a draft legislative package Thursday (May 23) that would set up an information exchange program for commercial insurers similar to CMS’ Blue Button initiative, strengthen incentives to improve cybersecurity practices, require a study of third-party health apps, and increase cost transparency, among other proposals to lower health care costs.