FLICKR, ADNAN ISLAM
The House of Representatives passed legislation intended to fast-track biomedical research by a 392 to 26 vote, STAT News reported. The 21st Century Cures Act is a sweeping bill that would allocate funds to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and streamline drug approval regulation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The bill, which will now be sent to the Senate for approval, includes $4.8 billion dollars in funding for three NIH programs: the Precision Medicine Initiative, the Cancer Moonshot, and the BRAIN Initiative, according to Science. The bill may also loosen certain FDA regulations, allowing a drug approved for treating one disease to be applied to a related disease without restarting the entire process, according to NPR.
The legislation is not without controversy, ...
