Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
House Leaders Unveil New Bill To Speed Drugs To Market
Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday unveiled a long-awaited draft of legislation that would speed up the approval of new drugs and treatments. The bipartisan, multi-billion dollar initiative, known as 21st Century Cures, includes major overhauls of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH). (Ferris, 4/29)
A new draft of House legislation that creates significant new regulatory leeway for drug and device companies includes more funding for the National Institutes of Health, representing a compromise with Democrats who withdrew support for the bill. Leaders of the House Energy & Commerce Committee are circulating a new 鈥渄iscussion draft鈥 of the 21st Century Cures bill that would raise NIH funding to $31.8 billion in fiscal 2016 and to $34.85 billion in fiscal 2018. Congress appropriated $30.3 billion for the NIH in fiscal 2015, and President Barack Obama requested $31.3 billion for fiscal 2016. (Tahir, 4/29)