WASHINGTON, DC - House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) today highlighted the 21st Century Cures initiative upon the formal announcement of the administration’s Moon Shot Task Force. Upton and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) launched the nonpartisan 21st Century Cures effort over two years ago to accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of better, safer treatments and cures.
“We welcome the administration’s Moon Shot Task Force to the Cures conversation, and the good news is Congress has already done a lot of the legwork over the last two years," said Upton. We broke the mold with our approach to 21st Century Cures: We listened. We engaged. We solicited input. We drafted. We listened some more. It was an inclusive, unique, transparent process. We locked arms with many of the administration’s top lieutenants from the get go, including NIH’s Francis Collins and HHS Secretary Burwell on their Precision Medicine initiative. Our efforts paid off as we passed a bill through the house 344 to 77 and the Senate is now poised to start voting on its own innovation package.
“This effort is about time - and way too many patients and their families sadly can’t wait any longer. We can’t afford to fall into the old, worn traps of Washington bureaucracy. We’ve already started down the path to cures, and are excited about including any new ideas on cancer the administration wants to put forward. We feel like we’ve already launched the moon shot. It’s time for a successful landing. It’s time for #CuresNow."
* Cures = Moon Shot
* UPTON VIDEO: The President Asked for a Moon Shot to Find a Cure for Cancer. We Can Do That.
