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Washington, D.C., July 12, 2017 – The National Health Council (NHC) and the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) commend the House of Representatives for passing the FDA Reauthorization Act (FDARA) with overwhelming bipartisan approval. Passing this bill is a crucial step in reauthorizing four user fee programs that ensure the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) […]

Washington, D.C., June 29, 2017 — The following statement was issued today by Peter L. Saltonstall, President and CEO of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), following the FDA’s announcement of its Orphan Drug Modernization Plan: “NORD is grateful to FDA and its recently-appointed Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, for its commitment, announced June 29, to eliminating the orphan designation […]

Unanimous vote extends the Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher Program with important policy changes through December Washington, D.C., September 23, 2016 – On Thursday, the Senate reached an important compromise to accelerate new treatments to help 15 million sick children with rare diseases. Led by Senators Robert Casey (D-PA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and Lamar Alexander […]

By Peter L. Saltonstall One of the most successful pieces of legislation ever passed by the Congress is the Orphan Drug Act of 1983 (ODA).  It was intended to stimulate the research and development of new therapies for rare diseases, which were generally neglected by the research community and the drug industry. Since 1983, more […]

On July 15, the Food and Drug Administration released the performance goals letter for the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, also known as PDUFA VI.  The PDUFA program is the agreement between the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry to pay user fees to facilitate the review of pharmaceutical products. PDUFA must be reauthorized […]

The following statement was issued by Peter L. Saltonstall, President and CEO of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), as the Senate announced it would not vote on its Cures legislation, also known as the Senate Innovations for Healthier Americans Initiative, until September at the very earliest. “On behalf of the 1 in 10 […]

Today, June 7, join rare disease advocates around the country and tell your Senators to support the Senate Cures Legislation. This month is the last chance for Senate Cures to pass before the Senate is out of session until after the November election. Senate Cures (also called the Senate Innovation Act for Healthier Americans) is the companion […]