March 14 (Bloomberg) -- The Food and Drug Administration's request for $30.5 million more next year to prepare for a flu pandemic would help speed development of tests, vaccines and treatments, agency chief Andrew von Eschenbach said.

The FDA also would use the money to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity and lengthen the shelf life of treatments for the influenza virus now circulating in birds, von Eschenbach told a U.S. Senate subcommittee at a hearing in Washington today. Von Eschenbach briefed the panel on the agency's requests, included in President George W. Bush's $2.77 trillion budget proposal for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

``We are in a race,'' von Eschenbach said. ``We are in a race with regard to our ability to mobilize and prepare all the appropriate interventions and solutions that would be necessary to deal with an avian flu outbreak.''

The increased funding would give the FDA $55.3 million for fiscal 2007 to prepare for the possibility that the H5N1 virus will mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, causing a pandemic. Since late 2003, 177 people have caught the illness mostly through contact with birds, and 98 of them have died. Birds infected with the virus may arrive in the U.S. within six months, a World Health Organization official said March 8.

In addition to increased funding for pandemic flu preparations, the FDA also is asking for $20.3 million more to cover cost-of-living increases in salaries, $19.9 million to protect the nation's food supply from bioterrorism, and $5.9 million to improve the process of approving medicines tailored to individual patients.

Under Bush's proposal for fiscal 2007, the agency's budget would increase 3.8 percent to $1.95 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in Washington at spettypiece@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 14, 2006 12:35 EST