FDA Requests $6.5B Budget for FY2022

The Food and Drug Administration is asking for a $6.5 billion fiscal year 2022 budget from Congress.

The request is $477 million higher than the agency’s enacted funding in FY2021 and prioritizes increased investments in critical public health infrastructure, core food safety and medical product safety programs, GovernmentCIO Media & Research reported.

Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock told lawmakers that the budget would help evolve and modernize how the agency carries out missions and operations and supports a growing workforce.

The biggest budget authority increase is for critical public health infrastructure. The FDA is seeking $185 million in additional funding to facilitate enterprise-wide data modernization and finance improvements to its federal buildings and facilities.

Of the $185 million, $76 million would be set aside for modernizing the agency’s data infrastructure, enabling better data gathering and speeding up response to potential challenges.

The agency also plans to earmark $22 million for the development of a medical supply chain program.

According to Woodcock, supply chain issues affecting medical products continue to be a challenge amid the pandemic, during which there have been critical shortages. 

The FDA is also requesting an additional $97 million to support core food and medical product safety programs that require significant investments to address unmet public health funding needs and emerging challenges.

The FDA also requested a $61 million budget increase to tackle national public health issues. The funding would be used for increasing safe and secure inspections and promoting health equity, among other things.