U.S. Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) released the “Innovations for a Healthy America” report on Thursday, detailing the many hurdles involved with providing innovative medical treatments, equipment and cures to patients in America.
Essentially, the report spells out the productive procedures, policies and programs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, as well as the unproductive ones.
“We want to know what successes we can replicate, and what failures must be learned from and fixed,” the report’s executive summary states.
The report was released in alignment with a current initiative in the Senate Health Committee that is examining the process of drug and equipment development, and the status of American medical innovation as a whole.
“For decades, our nation has led the world in medical innovation,” Burr explained. “But the challenges of maintaining this edge have never been greater. Our report asks a simple but critical question – how can we do it better? We are in an exciting era of medicine that holds tremendous potential to improve treatments and outcomes for patients. But to realize this potential, we must ensure that our nation’s discovery and development processes are working as well as possible.”
Burr and Alexander, who chairs the Senate Health Committee, are seeking feedback on the report.
“America is home to the sharpest scientists and boldest researchers who are every day finding cutting-edge cures, treatments and devices to help make sick people well or make life easier for the disabled,” Alexander said. “The challenge is that our process for developing and reviewing these products is out of date and unable to match the pace of discovery, so American patients are waiting too long for relief. With the release of this report, we begin our work in the Senate Health Committee to modernize that review process and make Americans healthier.”