Griffith Statement on 21st Century Cures Act

Statement

Today the House of Representatives voted on the revised 21st Century Cures Act (House Amendment to Senate Amendment to H.R. 34 ), which passed 392-26. Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) is a co-sponsor of the original bill (H.R. 6) that passed the House in July, 2015.

Congressman Griffith issued the following statement:
"The 21st Century Cures Act facilitates the discovery of new treatments for patients with rare diseases that currently have no cure. Further, the bill cuts out bureaucratic red tape in order to help speed up the approval of these medical breakthroughs, new discoveries, and biological treatments."
"In addition, the bill has several aspects that are important to patients and families in the Ninth District, including grants to the states to help combat the opioid epidemic and reforms to improve our mental health system."
"I am pleased with provisions that allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to streamline the approval of regenerative therapeutic products and encourage the FDA to identify opportunities for accelerated approval without lowering the current standards of evidence. Regenerative medicine involves cutting-edge technology that has the ability to repair tissues and organs, or regenerate cells. If a drug shows potential to treat or cure a serious or life-threatening disease, the bill facilitates a program for expedited review."
"The bill requires new federal spending, but Congress has identified ways to fund the research. Although this means the money can't be spent in other ways, research to cure rare diseases that currently have no cure, I believe, is an appropriate use of federal funding."
"While the private sector does undertake their own medical research and development, they focus on treatments and cures that can be sold on a large scale. The federal government must spearhead the research for treatments for rare conditions or cures for diseases that may only affect a few thousand people."

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