WASHINGTON – A bipartisan duo of senators is done waiting for the Food and Drug Administration to finalize a regulation that will finally let companies sell hearing aids over the counter.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced a bill Friday that would mandate that the Biden administration release the FDA’s long-stalled hearing aid regulation within 30 days.
The new bill is the latest sign of frustration in Washington over the FDA’s work on hearing aid access; Grassley and Warren’s passed legislation to pave the way for cheaper, over-the-counter devices five years ago, in 2017. Under that law, the agency was supposed to release draft regulations allowing the sale of these aids by August 2020, but the FDA did not release that proposal until October 2021 – more than a year late – and it’s not clear how long it will take the agency to finalize the regulation. The same duo sent a letter, with a similar message, to the FDA in February.
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