Must-pass user fee deals: Biopharma companies fund more than 80% of FDA's review staff, CDER head tells Congress

Every five years, the FDA and biopharma industries negotiate an agreement explaining how much the companies will need to pay in so-called user fee funds, as well as what goals the FDA has to meet in its product reviews.

But even after those agreements have been hashed out, Congress still has to authorize the user fee agreements sometime before the current agreements expire in September.