Developing New Cures
21st Century Cures
In 2014, Rep. DeGette undertook an initiative to accelerate the pace at which our nation develops new cures and treatments for some of the world's most stubborn diseases.
In taking on this challenge, she soon found a partner in Rep. Fred Upton, a Republican from Michigan. They would go on to spend the next several years talking to experts and stakeholders from across the country to understand what needed to be done to speed-up the way our country delivers innovative new treatments to patients. They held countless hearings, meetings and roundtable discussions – all in an effort to gather as much input and feedback as they could from those who knew the issue best.
In May 2015, Reps. DeGette and Upton unveiled their plan, known as the 21st Century Cures Act. It was approved by Congress in 2016 and signed into law by President Obama that same year.
In the years since this landmark legislation was signed into law, our nation has become better at screening for and preventing certain types of cancer. We have improved our understanding of the human brain and we are making significant strides in the field of regenerative medicine. We've developed new treatments for cystic fibrosis, increased funding for Alzheimer's research and are on the cusp of finding a cure for sickle cell anemia. And we've seen a record number of new generic drugs approved for the market, which are helping to lower the cost of health care for millions of Americans.
The 21st Century Cures Act has been widely hailed as a major success, both for how it has modernized our medical research fields and as an example of how Congress is supposed to work.
In an effort to build upon the tremendous progress that's been made since the passing of the 21st Century Cures Act, DeGette and Upton announced in 2019 that they were working on new legislation – which they have dubbed "Cures 2.0" – that would further revolutionize America's biomedical research.
Cures 2.0
In November 2021, DeGette and Upton introduced their highly anticipated Cures 2.0 legislation, which was immediately hailed as a potential "game changer" by some of the nation's leading health care organizations.
Designed to improve the level of care that's provided to patients across the U.S., the legislation would, among other things, expedite the delivery of potentially groundbreaking new treatments to the patients that need them most. It would increase access to telehealth services, provide training programs to help family members care for loved ones at home and require greater diversity in clinical trials to ensure drugs and treatments approved for use in the U.S. are safe and effective for a greater portion of the population. And it would make President Biden's dream of creating a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health a reality.
In February 2022, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a key hearing to discuss DeGette and Upton's Cures 2.0 legislation and the creation of ARPA-H. During that hearing DeGette, Upton and the chair of the Health subcommittee, Rep. Anna Eshoo, announced that they would be joining forces to get Cures 2.0 and the ARPA-H Act signed into law.
Under the terms of the proposal, once created, ARPA-H would be tasked with finding new cures and treatments for some of the world's most difficult diseases – such as cancer, diabetes, ALS, Alzheimer's and more. It would be modeled largely after the Pentagon's highly successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which has been responsible for developing some of the most significant technological advancements of our time, including the Internet, GPS and self-driving cars.
The new agency would be run by a relatively small number of program managers who would each be given a high degree of autonomy to choose which high-risk, high-reward projects to pursue. Like DARPA, ARPA-H would provide some of the nation's greatest minds access to the federal government's virtually limitless resources to make the impossible, possible; and help shape the future of medicine in the U.S. for many years to come.
More on Developing New Cures
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Fred Upton (R-MI) have joined forces to advance two critical health care bills aimed at revolutionizing America's biomedical research capabilities and creating a new advanced research agency for health modeled after the Department of Defense's highly successful DARPA program.
