WASHINGTON, DC - Two major patient advocacy and medical research organizations are calling on bipartisan congressional leaders for a swift vote on 21st Century Cures legislation when Congress reconvenes in November. Research!America and United for Medical Research both sent House and Senate leaders letters last Friday. Momentum continues to build on what Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) calls, “a once-in-a-generation, transformational opportunity to change the way we treat disease."
Research!America has “a diverse base of over 360 members that spans the research spectrum from the lab bench to the bedside." United for Medical Research is a coalition of 25 of the nation’s leading scientific research institutions and patient advocates, including the Alzheimer’s Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Stanford, and University of Pennsylvania.
Excerpts of the letters follow below:
Research!America :
On behalf of Research!America, a 360-member public education and advocacy alliance spanning patients, universities, academic health centers, industry, independent research institutes, scientific societies and philanthropies, I am writing to urge you to fight for passage of bipartisan and bicameral “Cures" legislation before the end of the 114th Congress.
Through hard work and compromise over the course of several years, the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senate HELP Committee have been able to forge broad-based bipartisan agreement on legislation focused squarely on conquering diseases that rob Americans and patients throughout the world of health, independence and time. By applying supplemental funding for NIH and FDA and pursuing efficiencies in the R&D pipeline, the Cures initiative will empower our nation to find safe and effective solutions to health threats more quickly, and deliver those solutions to patients more efficiently.
United for Medical Research :
We have entered an era of precision medicine where intervention on an individualized level is beginning to generate story after story of children and adults whose lives have been saved through cutting-edge research advances. These human stories of triumph over disease serve to provide hope to millions of patients whose diseases and conditions are still waiting for the next generation of treatment or cure. Patients simply can’t wait through more delay in Washington.
We believe Congress understands this opportunity, and is eager to act. The bipartisan leadership over the last two years in both the House and the Senate has been truly remarkable, and this legislation would be a crowning achievement for the 114th Congress. Putting this bill off until the next Congress likely means putting it off for the foreseeable future - a terrible outcome for our country.
This is a rare opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of all Americans. Our coalition strongly encourages immediate action on such a timely and widely supported measure. It is a clear national priority, and it must be Congress’s first priority after the election.
