Senate Diabetes Caucus Co-Chairs Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) announced on Thursday that the Senate Finance Committee marked up a five-year extension of the Special Diabetes Program.
The extension would maintain the Special Diabetes Program’s funding at its current level of $150 million.
“Since I founded the Senate Diabetes Caucus, funding for diabetes research at the National Institutes of Health has more than tripled,” Collins said. “After years of investment, the Special Diabetes Program is making tangible improvements in the lives of Americans who are living with diabetes, and it is also making significant progress toward a cure. That is why it is so critically important that Congress extends funding for this effective program.”
In October, Collins and Sheehan urged Senate leaders to support the Special Diabetes Program in a letter signed by 74 senators.
“Type 1 diabetes impacts millions of Americans and their families,” Shaheen said. “Extending resources for the Special Diabetes Program will protect important investments in diabetes research that ultimately help patients living with type 1 and gets us closer to finding a cure.”
The Special Diabetes Program has funded extensive research of type 1 diabetes as well as treatment initiatives for American Indian and native Alaskans since it was established in 1997.