Former members of the FDA Science Board’s Subcommittee on Science and Technology have recommended to House Democrats that the agency’s fiscal 2009 non-user fee budget be increased by $375 million to $1.87 billion, substantially more than what the president has proposed.

Four key Democrats requested the estimate from Gail Cassell, a vice president at Eli Lilly and chairwoman for the now disbanded subcommittee. Their request came the same day President Bush sent his fiscal 2009 budget to Congress. The estimate incorporates recommendations from the subcommittee on how to improve the FDA’s weak scientific base and obsolete IT systems.

Beyond fiscal 2009, the recommendation calls for additional budget increases of $450 million in fiscal 2010, which would bring the non-user fee budget to $2.32 billion. In fiscal 2013, the recommendation proposes $3.7 billion.

The money would be used for new IT systems, the implementation of an active postmarketing surveillance system and the FDA’s Critical Path Initiative, including the development of quantitative methods to assess new products and guide manufacturers on innovative clinical trial designs.