Updates to change sourcing

By Kamal Choudhury and Sneha S K

Feb 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to give quarterly bonuses to scientific staff for quicker completion of drug reviews, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Staff reviewers could receive bonuses worth several thousand dollars per quarter for high-quality work completed ahead of schedule, according to the person familiar with the plans.

Bloomberg News first reported on the development and said the program is expected to be announced at an internal FDA meeting later on Thursday.

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.

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, the person 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.

(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru and Sneha S K; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Tasim Zahid)

((Kamal.Choudhury@thomsonreuters.com;))