US FDA to offer bonuses to staff for faster drug reviews, Bloomberg News reports

Feb 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to give quarterly bonuses to scientific staff for quicker completion of drug reviews, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing an FDA official familiar with the matter.

Staff reviewers could receive bonuses worth several thousand dollars per quarter for high-quality work completed ahead of schedule, the report said, adding that the program is expected to be announced at an internal FDA meeting later today.

The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The initiative follows the Commissioner's National Priority Voucher program, launched in June, which speeds FDA decisions on critical drugs to one to two months from the standard six months.

FDA has awarded up to 18 vouchers so far, and granted its second approval under the program on Thursday to Boehringer Ingelheim's lung cancer drug Hernexeos.

The agency is also working to hire more than 1,000 new scientists as part of a broader effort to accelerate drug evaluations, Bloomberg said.

The FDA has faced turbulence, with top career officials leaving under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

It recently also changed course on Moderna's new flu vaccine, agreeing to review its amended application after initially rejecting it, fueling concerns over policy changes at the agency under President Donald Trump.

The bonus initiative is scheduled to begin on April 1 and will apply to reviewers in the FDA's two main centers that evaluate drugs and vaccines, with first payments expected around August, according to the Bloomberg report.