Last week, U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) published an op-ed in the Deleware County Daily Times, discussing the importance of the Senate passing the 21st Century Cures bill, which will accelerate the process of moving innovative medical devices and treatments for diseases from the research and development stage to the hands of the end user.
“Every day, millions of Americans struggle to cope with life-threatening diseases,” Meehan said. “Too many mothers and fathers have been lost to cancer, and too many children struggle with diseases like cystic fibrosis that will affect them the rest of their lives. More than 5 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, one-third of all those over age 85.”
Meehan continued to describe the United States’ difficulty in efficiently dealing with these types of diseases.
“But while we’ve made great strides in genetic research, scientific advancement has been difficult to translate into cures for the vast majority of the diseases we face,” Meehan said. “Of some 10,000 known human diseases, we can only effectively cure about 500 of them.”
Meehan explained that while Republicans and Democrats can agree that finding cures to these diseases should be a national priority, Washington’s regulations have not kept the same pace as that of the rapid advancements in research and technology. These cures have been stalled out by bureaucracy and red tape, holding back innovation and delaying patients’ ability to access newly developed treatments.
The 21st Century Cures legislation modernizes the nation’s research infrastructure and streamlines the bureaucracy standing between the United States and cures for conditions like Alzheimer’s and cancer. On the wings of an overwhelming bipartisan vote, the bill passed the House of Representatives earlier this month.
“(This) legislation increases funding for the National Institutes of Health by $10 billion over the next five years, and puts more resources into the hands of the Food and Drug Administration to speed the testing and approval of new life-saving treatments,” Meehan said. “It expands clinical research trials, which give patients the opportunity to try exciting new medications and therapies in a safe, controlled and monitored way. This means real positive health outcomes for real people that are trying to cope with the most challenging conditions.”
Meehan highlighted the importance of this bill.
“The 21st Century Cures legislation passed by the House sends an unmistakable message that curing these conditions is a nonpartisan, national priority for all of us,” Meehan said. “I urge the Senate to act quickly on its passage and the president to sign it into law.”