The U.S. House of Representatives today approved H.R. 6, the 21st Century Cures Act, by a vote of 344-77. The bill received overwhelming bipartisan support, despite some opposition to the mandatory spending stream to NIH on the Conservative side.
“The legislation will help to bring our health care system into the 21st Century, investing in science and medical innovation, incorporating the patient perspective, and modernizing clinical trials, to deliver better, faster cures to more patients and loved ones in need,” the Energy and Commerce Committee states.
The bill’s authors, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO), Health Subcommittee Chairman Joe Pitts (R-PA), full committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., (D-NJ), and Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Gene Green (D-TX) commented:
“Today, we took a big leap on the path to cures, but we still have much work left to do. The 344 votes today should be a springboard for action. On to the Senate.”
John Kamp, Executive Director at the Coalition for Healthcare Communication offered the following statement:
“An unusual bipartisan effort to save lives and increase the quality of lives of millions of American citizens by speeding the drug and device approval processes and enabling more robust information sharing by industry.
Don’t miss the three important communication provisions recently covered in the Life Science Compliance Update that:
1. Specifically exempt certain medical education events and materials from reporting under the Sunshine Act,
2. Expands the scope of permissible discussions between payers and life science companies, and
3. Nudges FDA to move quickly on enabling more robust off label information sharing.”
Andrew Rosenberg, Senior Advisor to the CME Coalition was equally positive about the passage of the bill:
“With passage of this bill, the House of Representatives has acknowledged that commercially supported CME plays an important role in educating our doctors and improving patient access to innovative therapies. We next look forward to the Senate taking up similar legislation to encourage the practice of continuing medical education.”
Life Science Compliance Update, including a recent analysis of these Cures sections, is available here.