Issue Position: Bilirakis Cures

Issue Position

The 21st Century Cures is a bipartisan initiative to examine and improve the discovery-development-delivery cycle. Treatments for patients suffering from chronic and rare diseases -- whether they are medical devices or medicine -- must be discovered on the ground level through basic science, be developed into practical, usable, and marketable products, and then be delivered to the patients so the treatment may be effectively utilized.

There are significant impediments at each stage of the cycle, in large part because of an outdated and outmoded regulatory structure. This impacts medical device companies, physicians, clinicians, researchers -- the list goes on and on. Ultimately, however, this negatively impacts patients.

Over 130 million Americans suffer from a chronic condition. Americans have always been an innovative and industrious people. So many breakthroughs across all industries throughout the 20th and 21st centuries were pioneered by Americans. Why then, is America falling behind in health care?

That is one of the many questions the 21st Century Cures initiative seeks to answer. I know I don't have all the answers -- no one single person does. This initiative and these roundtables are a way to continue a dialogue with people who are directly impacted.

This is about people -- the people who need more efficient and effective treatments more quickly, but do not have access to them. For me, 21st Century Cures is patient-centric. I want to work for reforms that will help the daily lives of all Americans who suffer from a rare or chronic disease.

Thank you for taking this journey with me. The first step is asking the questions; soon, through the help of people like you, we can get the answers. We are paving the #Path2Cures.

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