With the establishment of the Energy & Commerce Committee’s 21st Century Cures campaign, a bipartisan effort to focus on strategies to speed up the development and delivery of therapies to patients, there is a new level of confidence among patient advocacy groups that they are being heard on the Hill. There have been recent strides that indicate that there the tides may be changing for organizations willing and able to align their interests with those of key lawmakers.
Patient advocates have been the key element in shaping these drug development policies and in ensuring their inclusion in the final legislation
The outcome of 21st Century Cures remains to be written, but these recent successes demonstrate that opportunities exist for patient advocates to achieve meaningful progress on important federal legislative and regulatory issues.
Rather than the new programs and increased funding of yesterday, successes today and tomorrow will more likely come in the form of accelerating innovations with limited federal support, or eliminating or reducing barriers.
