U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) recently signed the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act to help speed the development of new cures for diseases, improve mental health and fight drug addiction. The bill now goes to President Barack Obama where he is expected to sign it on Tuesday.
Investments outlined in the medical innovation package total $6.3 billion, including $5 billion in medical research and $500 million to reform and streamline the Food and Drug Administration’s approval process.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called 21st Century Cures “the most important legislation Congress will pass this year.”
The package includes a number of bills authored by Hatch, the Senate president pro tempore, with key provisions that would impact health care in Utah.
The Promise for Antibiotics and Therapeutics for Health (PATH) Act, S. 185, would allow antibiotics to be studied utilizing pathways similar to orphan drugs to address the rise of superbugs and ant-microbial resistance.
The Medical Electronic Data Technology Enhancement for Consumers Health (MEDTECH) Act, S. 1101, would clarify health information technology regulations to ensure that regulations of low-risk technologies do not slow innovation.
Hatch also pushed for the Advancing Targeted Therapies for Rare Diseases Act, S. 2030, which would take steps to incentivize the development of drugs for rare diseases and address difficulty presented by conventional trials involving rare diseases.
S. 2511, the Improving Health Information Technology Act, would reform certification for electronic health records and encourage an exchange to relieve burdens on providers and duplicative processes.
The Advancing Breakthrough Medical Devices for Patients Act, S. 1077, would speed up the development of breakthrough medical devices and provide priority review to developers.
Additionally, the Enhancing the Stature and Visibility of Medical Rehabilitation Research at NIH Act, S. 800, would create a working group within the National Institutes of Health to promote interagency cooperation on rehabilitation research and streamline rehabilitation research priorities.