House votes to create new advanced research agency to cure cancer, other diseases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House voted today to create a new advanced research agency for health to find new cures and treatments for some of the world's most difficult diseases – such as cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes and more.

The new agency – known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H – will be modeled after the Department of Defense's highly successful DARPA program, which has been responsible for developing some of the most consequential technologies of our time – including the Internet, GPS and self-driving cars.

Like DARPA, ARPA-H will bring together some of the nation's greatest minds and give them 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.

"With this legislation, we have an opportunity to revolutionize how our nation researches and develops new cures and treatments for some of the world's most difficult diseases," said U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), who has been spearheading the congressional efforts to create the new agency. "By creating this new agency, we will be able to push our country's research potential beyond what we can even imagine, and reshape the future of biomedical research in this country for many years to come."

Under the terms of the legislation, ARPA-H will be established as an independent agency operating as a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. It will be run by a relatively small number of program managers who will each be given a high degree of autonomy to choose which high-risk, high-reward projects to pursue.

Once established, the primary focus of the new agency will be to accelerate biomedical research and develop innovative new treatments and cures for some of the deadliest diseases. It will also be tasked with developing breakthrough technologies that would otherwise die in the commercial market.

Previous efforts to apply the DARPA-like model to the field of biomedical research have already proven successful. In fact, it was DARPA that initially funded Moderna's mRNA technology when other agencies were skeptical of the approach; an investment that eventually led to the rapid development of a highly effective COVID-19 vaccine. Further developing that mRNA technology to possibly prevent cancer is one of the projects that advocates for creating the new agency say it could pursue.

The legislation, which was approved in the House by a vote of 336 – 85, now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Video of DeGette's remarks on the House floor prior to the vote is available here.