§ 379dd. Establishment and functions of the Foundation
(a)
In general
A nonprofit corporation to be known as the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration (referred to in this part as the “Foundation”) shall be established in accordance with this section. The Foundation shall be headed by an Executive Director, appointed by the members of the Board of Directors under subsection (e).[1] The Foundation shall not be an agency or instrumentality of the United States Government.
(b)
Purpose of Foundation
The purpose of the Foundation is to advance the mission of the Food and Drug Administration to modernize medical, veterinary, food, food ingredient, and cosmetic product development, accelerate innovation, and enhance product safety.
(c)
Duties of the Foundation
The Foundation shall—
(1)
taking into consideration the Critical Path reports and priorities published by the Food and Drug Administration, identify unmet needs in the development, manufacture, and evaluation of the safety and effectiveness, including postapproval, of devices, including diagnostics, biologics, and drugs, and the safety of food, food ingredients, and cosmetics, and including the incorporation of more sensitive and predictive tools and devices to measure safety;
(3)
in consultation with the Secretary, identify existing and proposed Federal intramural and extramural research and development programs relating to the goals and priorities established under paragraph (2), coordinate Foundation activities with such programs, and minimize Foundation duplication of existing efforts;
(4)
award grants to, or enter into contracts, memoranda of understanding, or cooperative agreements with, scientists and entities, which may include the Food and Drug Administration, university consortia, public-private partnerships, institutions of higher education, entities described in section
501
(c)(3) of title
26 (and exempt from tax under section 501(a) of such title), and industry, to efficiently and effectively advance the goals and priorities established under paragraph (2);
(5)
recruit meeting participants and hold or sponsor (in whole or in part) meetings as appropriate to further the goals and priorities established under paragraph (2);
(6)
release and publish information and data and, to the extent practicable, license, distribute, and release material, reagents, and techniques to maximize, promote, and coordinate the availability of such material, reagents, and techniques for use by the Food and Drug Administration, nonprofit organizations, and academic and industrial researchers to further the goals and priorities established under paragraph (2);
(7)
ensure that—
(A)
action is taken as necessary to obtain patents for inventions developed by the Foundation or with funds from the Foundation;
(B)
action is taken as necessary to enable the licensing of inventions developed by the Foundation or with funds from the Foundation; and
(C)
executed licenses, memoranda of understanding, material transfer agreements, contracts, and other such instruments, promote, to the maximum extent practicable, the broadest conversion to commercial and noncommercial applications of licensed and patented inventions of the Foundation to further the goals and priorities established under paragraph (2);
(d)
Board of Directors
(1)
Establishment
(A)
In general
The Foundation shall have a Board of Directors (referred to in this part as the “Board”), which shall be composed of ex officio and appointed members in accordance with this subsection. All appointed members of the Board shall be voting members.
(B)
Ex officio members
The ex officio members of the Board shall be the following individuals or their designees:
(C)
Appointed members
(i)
In general
The ex officio members of the Board under subparagraph (B) shall, by majority vote, appoint to the Board 14 individuals, of which 9 shall be from a list of candidates to be provided by the National Academy of Sciences and 5 shall be from lists of candidates provided by patient and consumer advocacy groups, professional scientific and medical societies, and industry trade organizations. Of such appointed members—
(ii)
Requirements
(I)
Expertise
The ex officio members shall ensure the Board membership includes individuals with expertise in areas including the sciences of developing, manufacturing, and evaluating the safety and effectiveness of devices, including diagnostics, biologics, and drugs, and the safety of food, food ingredients, and cosmetics.
(D)
Initial meeting
(i)
In general
Not later than 30 days after September 27, 2007, the Secretary shall convene a meeting of the ex officio members of the Board to—
(ii)
Service of ex officio members
Upon the appointment of the members of the Board under clause (i)(II)—
(2)
Duties of Board
The Board shall—
(A)
establish bylaws for the Foundation that—
(ii)
establish policies for the selection of the officers, employees, agents, and contractors of the Foundation;
(iii)
establish policies, including ethical standards, for the acceptance, solicitation, and disposition of donations and grants to the Foundation and for the disposition of the assets of the Foundation, including appropriate limits on the ability of donors to designate, by stipulation or restriction, the use or recipient of donated funds;
(iv)
establish policies that would subject all employees, fellows, and trainees of the Foundation to the conflict of interest standards under section
208 of title
18;
(v)
establish licensing, distribution, and publication policies that support the widest and least restrictive use by the public of information and inventions developed by the Foundation or with Foundation funds to carry out the duties described in paragraphs (6) and (7) of subsection (c), and may include charging cost-based fees for published material produced by the Foundation;
(vi)
specify principles for the review of proposals and awarding of grants and contracts that include peer review and that are consistent with those of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, to the extent determined practicable and appropriate by the Board;
(vii)
specify a cap on administrative expenses for recipients of a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement from the Foundation;
(viii)
establish policies for the execution of memoranda of understanding and cooperative agreements between the Foundation and other entities, including the Food and Drug Administration;
(ix)
establish policies for funding training fellowships, whether at the Foundation, academic or scientific institutions, or the Food and Drug Administration, for scientists, doctors, and other professionals who are not employees of regulated industry, to foster greater understanding of and expertise in new scientific tools, diagnostics, manufacturing techniques, and potential barriers to translating basic research into clinical and regulatory practice;
(3)
Terms and vacancies
(A)
Term
The term of office of each member of the Board appointed under paragraph (1)(C) shall be 4 years, except that the terms of offices for the initial appointed members of the Board shall expire on a staggered basis as determined by the ex officio members.
(e)
Incorporation
The ex officio members of the Board shall serve as incorporators and shall take whatever actions necessary to incorporate the Foundation.
(f)
Nonprofit status
In carrying out subsection (b), the Board shall establish such policies and bylaws under subsection (d), and the Executive Director shall carry out such activities under subsection (g), as may be necessary to ensure that the Foundation maintains status as an organization that—
(g)
Executive Director
(h)
Administrative powers
In carrying out this part, the Board, acting through the Executive Director, may—
(2)
hire, promote, compensate, and discharge 1 or more officers, employees, and agents, as may be necessary, and define their duties;
(4)
with the consent of the applicable executive department or independent agency, use the information, services, and facilities of such department or agencies in carrying out this section;
(5)
enter into contracts with public and private organizations for the writing, editing, printing, and publishing of books and other material;
(6)
hold, administer, invest, and spend any gift, devise, or bequest of real or personal property made to the Foundation under subsection (i);
(7)
enter into such other contracts, leases, cooperative agreements, and other transactions as the Board considers appropriate to conduct the activities of the Foundation;
(8)
modify or consent to the modification of any contract or agreement to which it is a party or in which it has an interest under this part;
(9)
take such action as may be necessary to obtain patents and licenses for devices and procedures developed by the Foundation and its employees;
(10)
sue and be sued in its corporate name, and complain and defend in courts of competent jurisdiction;
(i)
Acceptance of funds from other sources
The Executive Director may solicit and accept on behalf of the Foundation, any funds, gifts, grants, devises, or bequests of real or personal property made to the Foundation, including from private entities, for the purposes of carrying out the duties of the Foundation.
(j)
Service of Federal employees
Federal Government employees may serve on committees advisory to the Foundation and otherwise cooperate with and assist the Foundation in carrying out its functions, so long as such employees do not direct or control Foundation activities.
(k)
Detail of Government employees; fellowships
(1)
Detail from Federal agencies
Federal Government employees may be detailed from Federal agencies with or without reimbursement to those agencies to the Foundation at any time, and such detail shall be without interruption or loss of civil service status or privilege. Each such employee shall abide by the statutory, regulatory, ethical, and procedural standards applicable to the employees of the agency from which such employee is detailed and those of the Foundation.
(2)
Voluntary service; acceptance of Federal employees
(A)
Foundation
The Executive Director of the Foundation may accept the services of employees detailed from Federal agencies with or without reimbursement to those agencies.
(B)
Food and Drug Administration
The Commissioner may accept the uncompensated services of Foundation fellows or trainees. Such services shall be considered to be undertaking an activity under contract with the Secretary as described in section
379 of this title.
(l)
Annual reports
(1)
Reports to Foundation
Any recipient of a grant, contract, fellowship, memorandum of understanding, or cooperative agreement from the Foundation under this section shall submit to the Foundation a report on an annual basis for the duration of such grant, contract, fellowship, memorandum of understanding, or cooperative agreement, that describes the activities carried out under such grant, contract, fellowship, memorandum of understanding, or cooperative agreement.
(2)
Report to Congress and the FDA
Beginning with fiscal year 2009, the Executive Director shall submit to Congress and the Commissioner an annual report that—
(A)
describes the activities of the Foundation and the progress of the Foundation in furthering the goals and priorities established under subsection (c)(2), including the practical impact of the Foundation on regulated product development;
(m)
Separation of funds
The Executive Director shall ensure that the funds received from the Treasury are held in separate accounts from funds received from entities under subsection (i).
(n)
Funding
From amounts appropriated to the Food and Drug Administration for each fiscal year, the Commissioner shall transfer not less than $500,000 and not more than $1,250,000, to the Foundation to carry out subsections (a), (b), and (d) through (m).
[1] So in original. Probably should be “subsection (g).”