Volume 385, Issue 9983, 30 May 2015
WORLD REPORT A bill to speed up the translation of biomedical discoveries is getting wide support, but some argue that it is not adequately funded. Susan Jaffe, The Lancet’s Washington correspondent, reports.
An ambitious bipartisan plan to accelerate medical innovation in the USA is moving ahead in a Congress famous for political gridlock.
The proposed 21st Century Cures Act was approved unanimously on May 21 by the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce. The massive bill would promote discovery of new medicines and get them to patients more quickly. But the bill’s bipartisan support nearly collapsed when Democrats insisted on additional funds for the two federal agencies intricately involved in carrying out the bill’s far-reaching provisions.
Behind-the-scenes discussions finally yielded an infusion of US$10 billion over 5 years for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Shortly before the committee vote, $550 million over 5 years was added for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for ensuring new treatments are safe and effective. …But funding for both agencies did not come easy, is still uncertain, and might fall far short of what is needed. [Continued full text or PDF]