“Cures” Act Signed into Law

On December 13, the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures)—the product of more than 2 years of intensive discussions in both the House and Senate, plus tremendous outreach and educational efforts by medical researchers and patient advocates—finally became law.

“It's a good day to see us doing our jobs,” President Barack Obama remarked at the signing ceremony, referring to the overwhelming bipartisan support for this landmark legislation: The House voted 392 to 26 in favor of Cures; the Senate 94 to 5. “Today, we are bringing to reality the possibility of new breakthroughs for some of the greatest health challenges of our time,” Obama added.

“God willing, this bill will save lives,” said Vice President Joe Biden. He spoke of “injecting a sense of urgency” into the fight against cancer, and how Cures will help “enhance prevention and detection efforts in every community regardless of ZIP code, bringing us closer to the day when there are vaccines for all kinds of cancer, just as we have them for measles or mumps.”

Through Cures, the NCI will receive $1.8 billion over 7 years, including $300 million in the current fiscal year, to fund various projects of the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot. A total of $3 billion will be funneled to two other signature Obama administration research programs—the Precision Medicine Initiative and the BRAIN Initiative. An Oncology Center of Excellence will be created at the FDA, and the agency's hiring authority will be expanded to better recruit and retain staff members with the required scientific expertise. Cures will also establish a review pathway for the FDA to validate biomarkers and other drug development tools, besides reauthorizing a priority review voucher program to spur new therapies for rare pediatric diseases.

Ronald DePinho, MD, president of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, called the legislation “transformative,” saying it “provides rocket fuel … to accelerate the development of new lifesaving advances to help us write [cancer] into the history books.” Megan Gordon Don, vice president of Government Affairs and Advocacy at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, added that with Cures, “important work on immunotherapy, personalized medicine … will move forward quickly to benefit patients.”

The American Association for Cancer Research also hailed Cures' successful passage, while emphasizing that the funding it provides should supplement, not supplant, regular and robust appropriations for the NIH. –Alissa Poh

For more news on cancer research, visit Cancer Discovery online at http://cancerdiscovery.aacrjournals.org/content/early/by/section.