Cárdenas Celebrates House Passage of 21st Century Cures
Cárdenas Celebrates House Passage of 21st Century Cures
(Washington, DC) –Today, U.S. Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-San Fernando Valley, Calif.), a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Health Subcommittee, applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for passing landmark medical research legislation that will provide billions of dollars for research while saving millions of lives.
H.R. 6, the 21st Century Cures Act, originated in the Health Subcommittee, where Cárdenas championed several important portions of the legislation:
- A new NIH “Innovation Fund,” to support research projects by young scientists, particularly women and minority scientists who are vital to meeting medical workforce needs.
- The priority review voucher program allowing companies that create cures for rare diseases, which are normally expensive to produce and not as profitable as other medicines, to move to the front of the line for FDA approval of a future, likely more wide-ranging drug. This creates a market-based incentive to help cure kids with tough-to-treat diseases.
- Important investment in telemedicine, to allow Americans who would otherwise not be able to visit a doctor to “see” a doctor through electronic means.
“21st Century Cures is the kind of law I came to Washington to work on,” said Cárdenas. “Southern California is full of people doing amazing work to find cures for diseases that shorten the lives of too many Americans. In passing this law, we give these brilliant researchers hope that America is behind them; that we will support their heroic efforts to keep our loved ones with us, living longer and healthier lives.”
-30-