Samoa

This past week in US regulatory, legislative, legal and political news affecting the biopharmaceutical industry included the death of a Supreme Court justice, which may have implications for cases affecting the biopharmaceutical industry currently pending before the court or those expected to reach it in the next year or two; the Senate majority leader's move to hold a procedural vote on Feb. 22 in the first step to clear Robert Califf as the new commissioner of the FDA; a complaint by federal health officials and lawmakers that profits appear to drive industry's interest in pursuing vaccines against infectious diseases; and the Senate Health Committee's adoption of seven bills under the panel's "innovation project," which is intended to be a "step-by-step" approach for overhauling the US biomedical enterprise; plus other Washington news.

President Barack Obama has asked Congress to approve a $1.8bn emergency funding package to speed vaccine and diagnostic research and development and to carry out other activities aimed at combating the growing threat of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which has invaded much of Latin America and some US territories, including Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and American Samoa.

Almost $3.3 million worth of emergency funding and medicines have been donated by member companies of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), to assist in the recovery from recent natural disasters across Asia and the Pacific.