US House Energy & Commerce Committee releases 21 Century Cures Act discussion draft

The promised January 2015 release of a discussion draft of legislation to implement the 21st Century Cures Initiative, which was launched in April 2014 by now-Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Representative Fred Upton (Republican, Michigan) and Committee Member Representative Diana DeGette (Democrat, Colorado), has now been posted on the Committee website stating: “21st Century Cures Legislative Phase Now Underway.”

The 21st Century Cures Act is chock-full of proposals, some of which are new and some of which are old (ie, based on or inspired by previously introduced legislation), from various stakeholders, comments Kurt Karst on Hyman, Phelps & McNamara’s FDA Law Blog. As noted in the Energy and Commerce Committee’s discussion document:

Over the course of the last year, patients, providers, innovators, regulators, and researchers from around the country have provided a wide range of specific ideas on how Congress can help accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of promising new treatments and cures for patients and maintain our nation’s standing as the biomedical innovation capital of the world. While it remains a work in progress, notes Mr Karst, the legislative language included in the discussion document is based on such ideas, including proposals authored by both Republicans and Democrats.