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The Senate will vote this week on a key legislative priority for the pharmaceutical industry and the Food and Drug Administration, according to three key senators. The package spells out how much drug and device makers pay the FDA to fund the agency’s oversight and approval processes, called user fees. The current contracts expire at the end of September, and the agency has said a new agreement is critical to its ability to continue to pay thousands of staffers. (Mershon, 8/1)

Republican leaders in the Senate seem to have struck a deal with a GOP holdout who had threatened to slow progress on a key Food and Drug Administration funding bill. Republicans hope to clear the measure for President Trump before departing for August recess, but they are still working out an agreement with Democrats to limit debate time. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., earlier indicated he would withhold consent to move the FDA bill quickly unless leaders gave him a vote on an amendment intended to increase people's access to experimental drugs. (Siddons, 8/1)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is raising eyebrows with talk of cracking down on nicotine levels in cigarettes and flavored tobacco products, including menthol. The agency on Friday said it’s planning to look at reducing nicotine in cigarettes to nonaddictive levels, a policy change that would likely have huge repercussions for the tobacco industry. (Wheeler, 8/1)

Researchers are calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate caffeine-based energy products along with yohimbe, a botanical marketed for male sexual enhancement, after a recent study showed that children taking the supplements often had serious adverse reactions. The findings are part of a study that examined dietary supplements by reviewing 13 years of calls to poison-control centers in the U.S. and its territories. (Viviano, 8/2)