U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) has introduced the bipartisan Cures 2.0 Act, a sweeping proposal that would continue the nation’s accelerated discovery, development and delivery of 21st century cures for myriad diseases and illnesses.
The 173-page bill, H.R. 6000, which Rep. Upton cosponsored alongside bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), aims to revolutionize how the United States provides care to patients and includes numerous provisions to hasten the delivery of new and potentially lifesaving cures, treatments and innovations, according to a bill summary provided by the lawmakers.
“The federal government has shown, time and time again, that when it’s given the resources needed to accomplish the impossible, there’s not much it cannot do,” said Reps. Upton and DeGette in a joint statement released on Wednesday. “Diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and ALS don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican. They affect all of us the same.”
If enacted, H.R. 6000 would create a new agency called Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, which would be housed within the National Institutes of Health and tasked with finding new cures and treatments to numerous illnesses, the summary says.
Additionally, H.R. 6000 would authorize the full $6.5 billion requested by the Biden administration to run the agency for the first three years.
“By creating ARPA-H, we will be bringing together some of our nation’s greatest minds to help find cures to these devastating diseases,” the members said. “And we will — for the first time — be putting the full weight of the federal government behind the ongoing efforts to end these terrible illnesses as we know them — which is a mission that all of us should be able to get behind.”
Other provisions in Cures 2.0 would transform how Medicare covers innovative new treatments and technologies to make those new discoveries available to patients sooner, and increase access to telehealth services for Medicare and Medicaid patients, including those covered under the Children’s Health Insurance Program, according to the lawmakers’ summary.
Additionally, H.R. 6000 would provide training and educational programs for at-home caregivers; require more diversity in clinical trials to ensure any new drugs and treatments approved for use in the U.S. are both safe and effective for a more representative portion of the population; and provide patients more information about their illnesses and the available treatment options.
Among other provisions, H.R. 6000 also would address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including by requiring the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a nationwide study on the implications of long COVID; and to develop a nationwide testing and vaccine distribution strategy to be used in future pandemics, the summary says.